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Space Tourism Tax: Congressman Announces New Plan After Jeff Bezos' First Spaceflight

Space Tourism Tax: Congressman Announces New Plan After Jeff Bezos' First Spaceflight

While the world watched Amazon founder Jeff Bezos lift off for his historic first spaceflight, many left behind on Earth were less impressed by the achievement then by the costs – and one congressman has vowed to do something about it.

Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat from the state of Oregon, has released a statement announcing his intention to create a bill taxing similar space tourism adventures. The press release reads, "While proponents of suborbital space flights point to transatlantic flights as having similar carbon footprints, these flights carry significantly more passengers and travel much farther. The result is space launches accounting for an estimated 60-times greater emissions than transatlantic flights on a per-passenger basis, enough to drive a car around the earth and more than twice the carbon budget recommended in the Paris Climate Agreement."

From Blumenauer's perspective, the environmental impact of space flights undertaken for the sake of entertainment or tourism needs to be offset by a tax, and his Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions (SPACE) Tax Act would address that by taxing commercial space flights whose goal is not scientific research. Though the bill would exempt NASA spaceflights, all others taking suborbital flights between 50 and 80 miles above the Earth's surface would pay a per-passenger excise tax, and those whose flights go above the 80-mile threshold would be charged a "significantly higher excise tax." 

In his statement, Blumenauer explained the reasoning behind his plan, saying “Space exploration isn't a tax-free holiday for the wealthy. Just as normal Americans pay taxes when they buy airline tickets, billionaires who fly into space to produce nothing of scientific value should do the same, and then some. I'm not opposed to this type of space innovation. However, things that are done purely for tourism or entertainment, and that don't have a scientific purpose, should in turn support the public good.”

The statement also addressed the issue of flights carrying both scientists and space tourists. "In the case of flights where some passengers are working on behalf of NASA for scientific research purposes and others are not, the launch excise tax shall be the pro rata share of the non-NASA researchers."

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Steward Financial

Steward Financial

Jon Osborn is a tax preparer based in San Dimas, California. His company, Steward Financial Services, offers a broad range of tax preparation, accounting and business consulting for small businesses. He loves to work with clients who are looking for answers to complex tax and business planning issues. He has owned several small businesses and worked with over one hundred small business owners. He helps his individual and business tax clients find the best ways to spend their money in order to minimize IRS tax. Small businesses looking to grow, sell or just increase cash flow are one of Jon's specialties.

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