Originally Posted by
Mwenenzi
The real taxes are the same for every flight/route. (cash or ff miles)
Awards with carrier surcharges can have some small additional real taxes if the award changes from a non revenue flight to a revenue flight (depends on jurisdiction)
Nope. BA Avios has lots of short haul redemptions where you pay a fixed amount in taxes / surcharges that is less than the taxes / surcharges due on a cash ticket. (BAEC is what the OP is comparing against)