| Five Countries To Tax Airfare To Pay For AIDS Drugs - NYT
NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- A group of countries led by France plan to raise at least $300 million next year, mostly through taxes on airline tickets, to help pay for the treatment of children with AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, The New York Times reports in its Tuesday edition, citing a senior French official.
The countries, acting through a Geneva-based organization called Unitaid, plan to pool their buying power and have asked former U.S. President Bill Clinton's foundation to negotiate with drug companies for volume discounts, the paper reported.
The countries - France, Brazil, the U.K., Norway and Chile - will announce the new undertaking Tuesday at the U.N., The Times reported.
France is the dominant donor to Unitaid, providing $250 million of the $300 million for next year, all from an airline ticket tax it began collecting this summer, the report said.
Travelers Take Off
As summer comes to an end, heartland travelers have plenty of good reasons to take a vacation. Lower gas prices are just one reason AAA is reporting an increase in fall travel. Good weather, smaller crowds and cheaper airfare are also contributing to the number of fall vacations, but those gas prices are hard to ignore. Just within the last month, AAA Nebraska reports a 36-cent drop in gas prices across the state. Similar figures nationwide are leading to cheaper airline tickets and 23 percent more flights than last year booked between September and November. Marylee Stobbe and her family are busy planning their fall vacation. They take off on their way to Disney World in less than a week, and Stobbe says it is not by accident. "Just because it's not peak season and I didn't want to go in peak season," Stobbe said.
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