Do you know Hartz-4 recipients who go by plane once in a while?
Well, I do. But fear thee not – I will not tell on them.
I am not really surprised, because with the exception of very few, the Hartz-4 recipients I know have a lot more time at their disposal than yours truly. The exceptions I am talking about – whom I will not tell on either – must do a lot of moonlighting “on the side”. They therefore mostly have no time for trips to London, Tunisia or the Dominican Republic.
They are not really affected by the Federal Austerity Program Incidentally, the “Austerity Program” is active since January, 1st. The term suggests something wrong, because nobody is doing any saving. Instead, what happens is that the agencies charge. But false labelling has become standard procedure, hasn’t it? And not just in politics. It is only part of the “new dishonesty”.
Well, the “Austerity Program” basically says what extra fees we have to pay.
If a Hartz-4 recipient is a smoker – among those I know the majority are – then he has to pay extra. If he goes by train, he also has to pay a little extra. After all, someone must pay in order for the German railway to earn the dividend (!) they have to pay.
To make up for it, your average Hartz-4 recipient is supposed to get 5 extra Euros per month from January, 1st, 2011.
To be sure, this will not be enough to pay the extra cost of going by plane. Incidentally, the air transportation tax is part of the “Austerity Program”.
Here is what the relevant paragraph says:
2011: New Legislation for Entrepreneurs
taken from: “Wirtschaft aktuell” (online):
Air Transportation Tax:
For flights from German airports, the air transportation tax has been installed on September, 1st. The tax is exclusively for passenger flights. Private planes and emergency flights remain free from taxation.
If you buy or book a ticket for an all-inclusive tour starting after January, 1st, 2011, you will be charged. The current rates (from Frankfurt/Main to the biggest airport of the country of destination) are:
- Eight Euros for national flights, flights inside Europe and to Morocco, Turkey, Tunisia, Cyprus and Russia.
- 25 Euros for flights to the Near and Middle East, such as Egypt, Israel, Saudi-Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and some African states.
- 45 Euros for flights to other countries, for example the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China.
I never understood why such a stupid law has been drawn up. After all, they could simply have taxed kerosene. But then the private jets, too, would have had to pay. They are probably powerful. And the air freight service would also have had to be subjected to taxation – which is something I find highly recommendable.
Perhaps the advantage of air transportation taxation is that now plenty of data can again be collected and stored for reasons of taxation. Those data will then not only be forwarded to US home security, but maybe also to the German fiscal authorities. With a little inner-office help, they will easily end up at the central employment office.
And then we would finally know who and how many of our Hartz-4 recipients prefer to travel by plane, after all.
RMD
(Translated by EG)
P.S.
At this time, I will refrain from initiating a discussion on the question:
“What requirements must be met for a short trip to Morocco, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates or to Australia or China in order to make it ethically correct?”.
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