U.S. Sen. Edward Markey (D-Massachusetts) is continuing his push to go after “fat cats,” reintroducing legislation to raise fuel taxes on business jets from 22 cents to $2 per gallon. Initially introduced in 2023, the Fueling Alternative Transportation with a Carbon Aviation Tax (FATCAT) Act (S.173) would increase fuel taxes to the equivalent of an estimated $200 per tonne of a private jet’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as well as remove fuel tax exemptions for logging and oil or gas exploration, Markey said.

Under the bill, increased revenue from the taxes would be channeled into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and a newly created Clean Communities Trust Fund. The latter fund would support air monitoring for disadvantaged communities, as well as provide investments for “clean, affordable” public transportation such as passenger rail and bus routes near commercial airports.

Similar legislation also had been introduced in the House in 2023 by Rep. Nydia Velázquez (D-New York), but neither her bill nor Markey’s gained any traction in the last Congress. With a Republican-led House and Senate in the current Congress, environmentally-based legislation such as this may face even more reluctance.

However, it underscores a continual theme involving the views of these lawmakers as environmentalists target business aviation. In announcing the reintroduction of the bill, Markey’s office called private jets “the most energy-intense form of travel.”

“It is time to make billionaire fat cats pay the absolute bare minimum to fly private jets and prioritize clean public transportation,” Markey said.

“Billionaires shouldn’t get a free pass to fly private and pollute while working families subsidize the bill,” Velázquez added in support of the legislation. “If billionaires want to travel on private jets, they should pay similar taxes to those flying commercial. The FATCAT Act makes the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share so that we can fund environmental justice and affordable public transit for all.”

A handful of groups endorsed the legislation at introduction, including Transportation for America, Americans for Tax Fairness, Patriotic Millionaires, Oxfam America, Public Citizen, and the Sunrise Movement.

“It’s time that these wealthy individuals with their reckless constant use of private jets pay for their luxury travel which pollutes all of our communities. The proposed Private Jet Fuel Excise Tax, which targets luxury consumption, is a strong step toward balancing the system,” said David Kass, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness.

“Private jets are the ultimate status symbol of inequality, yet their owners pay significantly less in taxes on flights than regular people flying economy class,” added Ashfaq Khalfan, climate justice director at Oxfam America. “Congress must address economic and climate justice as it considers tax legislation, and this law is an important litmus test for that commitment.”