Democratic Rep Proposes Space Tourism Tax Days After First Private Flights

Days after Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos launched successful tourism flights to space, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) proposed a tax on private space travel.

The Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions (SPACE) Tax Act would establish a new excise tax on commercial space flights carrying human passengers for purposes other than scientific research. The tax would be applied in two tiers — the first for suborbital flights exceeding 50 miles above the Earth’s surface and the second for orbital flights exceeding 80 miles above the Earth’s surface.