The Scottish Greens and other environmental campaigners have long called for a tax on the kind of small jets regularly used by stars like Taylor Swift.
15:18, 13 Jan 2026Updated 15:22, 13 Jan 2026
Private jet users face paying a new tax in Scotland(Image: )
Wealthy individuals using private jets to fly across Scotland will be hit with a new environmental tax, the SNP Government has revealed.
Announcing Holyrood’s draft spending plans for the year ahead, Shona Robison told MSPs today: “I say to those who choose to travel by private jet in Scotland, you will pay and pay a fair share for that privilege and, in doing so, will be making Scotland a fairer nation.”
An airport departure tax will also be put in place by April next year, with a consultation on a potential exemption for the Highlands and Islands, while the private jet tax would come in at a later date.
The move will please the Scottish Greens and likely help secure the party’s votes in support of the SNP Budget.
Ross Greer, the Greens’ co-leader, has long called for a levy to be introduced on the use of private jets in Scotland.
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Data shows nearly 13,000 private jet flights recorded at Scotland’s airports in 2023. Estimates suggest they emit up to 14 times more carbon per passenger than commercial flights.
Oxfam Scotland previously warned the richest one per cent had exhausted their annual carbon budget – the amount of CO2 that can be emitted while staying within 1.5 degrees of warming – only ten days into 2026.
The charity said the emissions generated by the richest one per cent in one year alone will cause an estimated 1.3 million heat-related deaths by the end of the century.
Decades of over consumption by the super-rich, Oxfam claimed, are already hammering the economies of low and lower-middle income countries, with the damage projected to reach $44 trillion by 2050.
Jamie Livingstone, head of Oxfam Scotland, said: “This commitment to a private jet tax sends a clear message – the super-rich will no longer get a free pass to pollute Scottish skies.
“It must be brought in as soon as Air Departure Tax is operational, but the true test will be how tough the tax is: it should be set sky-high so it punitively punishes the pockets of private jet passengers with the extra money raised spent on green projects that benefit us all.”