(Salem, OR)  --  Oregon Congressman Earl Blumenauer is proposing a space tourism tax for spaceflights on Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic or any other tourist craft.  Blumenauer, a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee, introduced the Securing Protections Against Carbon Emissions, or SPACE, tax on Tuesday.  Blumenauer says 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.  The tax would have two tiers, one for suborbital flights and a higher tax for orbital flights.  The tax would not apply to NASA spaceflights where scientific research is conducted.