Since 1992, air passengers have to pay the airport construction fee separately before boarding the plane. This fee has been collected for 20 years, and doubts and disputes have been going on. The focus of the debate is mainly on the legality, rationality, openness and transparency of airport construction fees.
"The airport construction fee and the civil aviation infrastructure construction fund are merged, and the civil aviation development fund is levied, which has both the consideration of degenerate charging items and the consideration of broadening and improving the use of funds." Xiong Wei, director of the Tax Law Research Center of Wuhan University, said that the public's constant doubts about the airport construction fee in the early stage may also be one of the reasons for this adjustment.
However, the launch of the Civil Aviation Development Fund did not dispel the public's doubts, but further escalated the debate. Many people think that the new method is "changing the soup without changing the medicine". Although a "vest" has been changed, the content and standard of fees charged are basically the same as the original airport construction fee.
"Government funds are also a kind of property sacrifice for citizens and enterprises. I advocate setting them by law, or at least by the State Council's administrative regulations. Otherwise, government funds are easily abused and infringe on private property rights. " Xiong Wei said.
Xiong Wei said that no matter who the investors in the airport are, whether they are state-owned or private, passengers have to pay the government for the use of the airport in addition to indirect payment, which is unacceptable to many people. Therefore, it is entirely possible for the airline to pay all the expenses directly, and then the airline will pass on the fare to the passengers. As an investor, the government can participate in the allocation of airport charges through profits.
The reason why the government is unwilling to adopt this method is that many airports are not profitable enough to distribute profits. Therefore, it is more inclined to take money directly from passengers through government funds.
How to improve the existing civil aviation development fund? Xiong Wei believes that the government should first explain to the public the legal basis for levying this fund. In addition, the detailed plan for the use of funds should be announced to the public; For major expenditures, we should listen to the opinions of the public; The effect of the use of funds should be regularly evaluated by independent institutions and announced to the public.