BERLIN (Reuters) - Seeking to tackle climate change, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives want to increase taxes on domestic flights and reduce the cost of long-distance train tickets, a party document seen by Reuters on Friday showed.
The German government - made up of Merkel's conservatives, their Bavarian CSU sister party and the Social Democrats (SPD) - is expected to present a far-reaching package of climate protection measures on Sept. 20.
The flight levy for domestic flights currently stands at 7.40 euros (£6.60).
"We want to double this ticket tax for all domestic flights and triple it for short-haul domestic flights under 400 kilometres," said a party document that the board of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) is due to review on Monday.
The document, called "Climate-friendly Germany - using innovations as we head into the future", showed that the party also wants to make long-distance rail travel cheaper by reducing the value-added tax levied on train tickets.
The document said a premium worth several thousand euros should be introduced to encourage people to scrap old, inefficient heating systems so that climate targets for buildings can be achieved.