‘Fair tax on Flying’ campaign launched
03.03.11
Travel industry heavyweights including British Airways, airports operator BAA and UKinbound have have joined ABTA for the first time to back a campaign against further increases in air passenger duty. The Fair Tax on Flying campaign launched today, calling on Chancellor George Osborne to ditch plans for further rises in aviation tax in his March budget.
In a survey conducted by ComRes for ABTA, almost two-thirds of consumers believed the tax is already too high, 21% said it was about the right level and 5% said it was too low. In an open letter to the Chancellor, the campaigners say that UK has the highest levels of aviation tax in Europe (only five other countries in the EU tax passengers and their rates are much lower), whilst Denmark, Sweden, Malta and the Netherlands have axed aviation taxes.
Since 2007, air passenger numbers in the UK have fallen 22% and Heathrow Airport has slipped from the largest European hub in terms of destinations served to the fifth largest, which ABTA says is down to increases in APD.
ABTA chief executive Mark Tanzer said: ‘When it comes to the future of tourism in the UK, the Government’s words and deeds simply do not match up. The Prime Minister has identified tourism as one of the top five industries to drive growth, yet aviation tax has become a punitive stealth tax.'
‘It is vital that the Government understands the impact it is having on the health of the tourism industry in the UK. The industry is willing to pay its way, but a 26-fold increase [in APD] since 1994 puts the UK at a competitive disadvantage when compared with our European neighbours and punishes UK holidaymakers and business travellers unfairly.'
‘Air passenger numbers have decreased by 22% since 2007 when the tax was last increased, and increasing it yet further will cause significant strain on hard-pressed family budgets and hamper the UK economy’s growth.’
British Airways chief executive Keith Williams said: ‘We recognise the exceptional difficulty of the country's fiscal position and we are content to pay our fair share. But the UK airline industry is already the most heavily taxed in the world and any further tax burden will be counterproductive to the country's economic recovery.’
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