EU jet fuel tax delayed

From EUPolitix

An EU tax on jet fuel has been kicked into the long grass after international aviation talks in Montreal.

Good so we can travel freely for a couple more years yet.

EU capitals had wanted to keep an open door to taxes and charges in a bid to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Incoming EU transport chief Jacques Barrot indicated recently that the issue of a European kerosene tax could be re-examined. The French commissioner said the environmental impact of air transport and distortions in competition meant that there may be a case for a "low rate of tax on intra-community flights" not exposed to international competition.

The part of this that really caught my attention was - distortions in competition - a phrase which means this:

1. We tax land transport very heavily
2. We don't tax air transport (Although what are airport taxes?)
3. In order to level the playing field, we need to tax air travel more heavily

They live in a strange parallel universe where the answer to one mistake is to make another. This is the reason that harmonisation of taxes must be fought until the last breath.