Space tourists — and the companies that ferry them — should pay taxes on their flights, said a U.S. lawmaker proposing one.

       “Space exploration isn’t a tax-free holiday for the wealthy,” said Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) in a statement announcing his plans to introduce the new tax.

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       “Just as normal Americans pay taxes when they buy airline tickets, billionaires who fly into space to produce nothing of scientific value should do the same, and then some,” he said Tuesday.

       Blumenauer, who represents part of Portland and its suburbs, announced his plans on the same day Jeff Bezos and three others launched into space on a rocket developed by his space company, Blue Origin. (Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

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       One of the seats on the flight had been purchased at auction for $28 million, but the passenger, who has asked to remain anonymous, canceled over “scheduling conflicts.” The 18-year-old son of a private-equity fund founder who had purchased a seat on an upcoming flight took the empty spot.

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       Blue Origin is approaching $100 million in sales of tickets for seats on future flights, Bezos said this week. Virgin Galactic, one of Blue Origin’s competitors whose founder, Richard Branson, went to space days before Bezos, has been selling tickets to space for $250,000. Analysts expect the price could double.

       The SPACE Tax Act — or Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions — proposed by Blumenauer would include a per-passenger tax, but also an excise tax based on how far into space the flight goes. One tier of the tax would apply to flights that go 50 to 80 miles above Earth’s surface, and a second tier would “levy a significantly higher” tax on flights that travel more than 80 miles above Earth.

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       The Blue Origin flight this week went about 66.5 miles above Earth, and the Virgin Galactic flight went about 50 miles. Both flights were what is deemed “suborbital,” reaching only the edge of space, but achieved zero-gravity — Bezos was seen on video floating Skittles into the mouths of his fellow passengers.

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       Blumenauer’s office said in a statement that the member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee is especially concerned about the environmental impact of sending humans into space, especially if there is no scientific gain. “I’m not opposed to this type of space innovation. However, things that are done purely for tourism or entertainment, and that don’t have a scientific purpose, should in turn support the public good,” the lawmaker said.

       NASA flights for research purposes would be exempt, Blumenauer said, and flights carrying some passengers working on behalf of NASA would have a proportional exemption. SpaceX, another private space company, owned by Elon Musk, ferried a crew of NASA astronauts to the International Space Station in April.

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       Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and SpaceX did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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       The proposed tax is the latest example of the widespread rebuke that Bezos and Branson have faced from progressives over their plans for space tourism, as many critics have argued that money and resources used toward the effort could be put to better use on Earth.

       The trips were also derided by some as an example of extreme wealth in the hands of billionaires. Bezos, the world’s richest man, was criticized for thanking Amazon employees and customers after landing this week, telling them, “you guys paid for all this.”