French Leader Renews Call for Global Airline Levy

Speaking to a gathering of French diplomats in Paris on Monday, French President Jacques Chirac again said he will push for an international tax on plane tickets to fund humanitarian efforts, including the fight against AIDS. "Along with France, Germany, Algeria, Brazil, Chile and Spain have decided to take this project to New York," he said in a reference to next month's UN General Assembly meeting. France will hold a ministerial conference on the subject next year and will try to enact the tax later in 2006, he said. "Without further delay, I have asked the [French] government to take the necessary steps to implement such a tax from next year," said Chirac, whose government estimates the international tax could raise $3 billion a year. The airline industry, however, disputes Chirac's assertion that the plan would be "neutral from an economic point of view."

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