Passenger Movement Charge

The passenger movement charge (PMC) is a tax payable by all passengers departing Australia on international flights or sea transport, whether or not the passenger intends to return to Australia. The PMC was introduced in July 1995 (replacing the previous departure tax which commenced in October 1978) and was initially described as a charge to partially offset the cost to government of the provision of passenger facilitation at airports, principally customs, immigration and quarantine functions.

Since 1 July 2012, the PMC has been A$55. The PMC is a flat rate, and not a percentage of the airfare. The rate is the same for low-price (or free or points tickets) fares as for first-class fares, and for short distance flights as for long-haul flights. The PMC is paid the airlines and recovered from passengers as part of the fare or as a special charge (e.g., in the case of free or point tickets). According to a 2013 survey by the International Air Transport Association, the average cost of the PMC on the airfare is 3.5%. The PMC is in addition to airport fees and airline surcharges. As at 2001, when the PMC was $30, the revenue from the PMC was approximately A$226 million per annum.

The PMC is levied under the Passenger Movement Charge Act 1978 and collected under the Passenger Movement Charge Collection Act 1978. It is administered by the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. The PMC is levied on all passengers leaving Australia by air or sea travel, unless if the passenger is exempt. The main exemptions apply to passengers 12 years of age or younger, transit or emergency passengers, crew members, defence personnel and their spouses, among others. The PMC is typically included in the price of air fares and remitted by airlines on behalf of individual travelers.

Introduced in 1978, the A$10 departure tax's initial stated aim was to recover costs associated with passenger processing at Australia's air and sea ports. In subsequent budgets the departure tax was linked to the promotion of tourism either through marketing or through the removal of a cost barrier to travel as in 1988.

The departure tax was increased to A$20 in 1981, but then reduced to A$10 in 1988 to stimulate the tourism industry. In 1991 the rate was increased to A$20 to fund a A$20 million tourism promotion package in an attempt to counter the negative impact of the pilots' dispute of 1989. The departure tax was raised again in 1994 to A$25 to offset the additional cost of tourism promotion expenditure, specifically an additional A$80 million allocated to the development of new tourism products.

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