PARIS — The British government, which has promised to be friendlier to commercial space companies, is proposing to eliminate a 6 percent tax that British satellite operators pay for satellite launch and in-orbit insurance.
The government’s 2014 budget proposal, released March 19, would permit satellite operators to benefit from the same Insurance Premium Tax exemptions already afforded to commercial aircraft, commercial shipping and other buyers of insurance.
The government of Prime Minister David Cameron has identified commercial space as a sector in which British industry has developed niche expertise that offers promise for growth. It has increased space spending at the 20-nation European Space Agency and begun crafting other ways to make Britain a magnet for space entrepreneurs and space businesses that develop in Britain.
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