#BBCtrending: Venezuela's airport 'breathing' tax

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-28227198


We're used to a seemingly endless range of taxes and surcharges when we fly - passenger taxes, departure taxes, fuel levies. But Maiquetia International Airport in Caracas has taken this a step further - passengers flying out now have to pay 127 bolivars tax (£12; $20) for the air they breathe.

This is to cover the cost of a newly-installed system which uses ozone to purify the building's air conditioning system. A press release from the Ministry of Water and Air Transport says it's the first airport in South America and the Caribbean to use the technology, which it claims will eliminate bacterial growth to "protect the health of travellers," as well as deodorizing and sanitising the building.

But with tickets out of the country already expensive and scarce because of Venezuela's economic crisis, many on social media have responded to the tax with both humour and outrage.

Radio presenter Daniel Martínez tweeted: "Could you explain to me the ozone thing in Maiquetia? The toilets don't have water, the air-con is broken, there are stray dogs inside the airport, but there's ozone?"

[COLGATE4]

1. The air purification system is used in the A/C

which however doesn't work. Sounds about right for the Bolivarian Revolution.

[Fred Sanders]

2. The vilification of the democratically elected government of Venezuela continues...imperialists only

love democracy if the voting turns out puppets.

[Bacchus4.0]

3. Yes, everone should have to pay to breathe. A great money making venture n/t

[Fred Sanders]

5. It is a tax. You also upset about that "airport improvement tax"..... because it is the same thing.

This is propaganda.

[Bacchus4.0]

6. Yes, its a breathing tax so people can breathe ozone from a broken a/c system.

What's next? A cockroach tax in the barrios?

[CBGLuthier]

4. 20 years ago two of my co workers went down to Venezuela

and damn near did not get out because they forgot they needed money for the exit bribe, I mean tax. Place has always been corrupt and probably always will be.

[kg4jxt]

7. I showed up there in 2002 . . .

my wife and I arrived by sailboat for pre-arranged employment in Maracaibo, an industrial port. However, they were COMPLETELY unaccustomed to processing private sailboats and forgot to put their hand out! We were escorted through clearance procedures by well-mannered naval personnel with never a whisper of corruption. When the Customs office would not see us because we were not a commercial vessel, the Captain of the Port wrote us a letter certifying that we were in the harbor at his pleasure and no further clearance procedures were required. We stayed there two years and had no complications. It was miraculous - I also guess it is never to be repeated!

[Fred Sanders]

9. I am glad you had no problems, I am sure many more had the same experience.

[Fred Sanders]

8. 20 years ago is a long time, amigo. Things change.

[djean111]

10. Oh my! When I vacationed in Nassau, in 1969, my husband and I had to pay

$16 each departure tax. He had gamble away all of our cash, so we had to countersign a wedding gift check. Totally embarrassing, but we were not allowed on the plane until we paid.
I had no idea that was such a horrible thing.
I used to work in Tokyo, and for years there was a departure tax which got paid at a machine; I just assumed it was for upkeep or whatever. They don't charge this separately now, the tax is rolled into the ticket.
Charging a departure tax is not a new or horrible idea.

[Paolo123]

11. FYI, Anguilla has a 28 dollar departure tax

Thankfully when I departed I was with a friend who had lots of cash.