That's a shit idea, obviously.

From the BBC:

The European Commission wants EU member states to consider allowing it to levy direct taxes - a move that could ease the burden on national budgets.(1)

The EU's Budget Commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, said he would present some options next month for direct EU taxes. Taxes on aviation (2), financial transactions (3) and CO2 emission permits (4) are all possibilities, he told the daily Financial Times Deutschland.

1) Does not compute. Whether a government collects extra tax in its own right and hands it over, or collects extra tax on behalf of the EU is neither here nor.

2) A tax on the value of landing slots would hit the spot. Apart from that, before the EU even thinks about taxing 'aviation', it could stop subsidising Airbus, airports and airlines generally.

3) That's a piss poor idea for the same reason that the EU-imposed VAT is a piss poor idea.

4) These permits are the worst idea of all as they are handed out for free in the first instance but have value in future, so they are a massive corporate subsidy and led directly to the closure of steel plants in the UK.

Pachauri

PS, my little lass chose the colour scheme.