APD - Tax on the Industry

[Bruce Wayne]

The APD issue,which is, quite frankly, a governmental kick in the nuts to the UK Aviation Industry is matched by a Treasury slap in the face.


Flight taxes hiked to bail out banks: It's nothing to do with environment, says Darling


Flight taxes are being raised to help bail out the banks, Alistair Darling admitted yesterday.

In an extraordinary intervention, the Chancellor said the higher air passenger duty being introduced tomorrow was needed to plug gaps in the national finances.

He made no attempt to justify the move - which will add £340 to the ticket for a family of four flying long haul - on environmental grounds, the official reason for the tax.

Airlines warned yesterday that the tax would cost thousands of jobs and do nothing to combat global warming.

Addressing journalists in Newcastle, home of the failed bank Northern Rock, Mr Darling said: 'I am quite blunt about it, we need to raise money to pay for some of the things we have done.

'If unemployment goes up there is a cost obviously to the family, there is cost in increased benefits, Northern Rock has cost a lot of money.

What we are doing is putting a pound on to your average ticket, which about three quarters of people travel on.

'And you consider the cost of an air ticket, I don't think a pound is that unreasonable.

'In the North East, we have spent billions on a bank for very good reasons.



'If unemployment goes up there is a cost obviously to the family, there is cost in increased benefits, Northern Rock has cost a lot of money.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad: :mad::mad:

[The SSK]

The last increase in APD was announced in the same breath as the decision to go ahead with the Trident nuclear deterrent replacement, as a source of the funding thereof.

"Airline passengers pay for weapons of mass destruction"

[Bruce Wayne]

"Airline passengers pay for weapons of mass destruction"

in this case, airline passengers are paying for Northern Wreck..

Key Northern Rock staff receive secret bonuses - Times Online (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article3177668.ece)


SENIOR staff at Northern Rock are receiving secret bonuses of up to £100,000 a year as part of an incentive scheme.
The bank’s board approved the bonuses for 173 staff who are seen as essential for the running of the bank. The payouts, of up to £25,000 per quarter, could double the salaries of some of the recipients.

[ExXB]

Although I have little time for IATA and that little Napoleon dictator they did get it right for once. From their press release here (http://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/2009-10-29-01.htm)

The UK Air Passenger Duty hike is the wrong response to the industry trauma. “The policies of some governments in light of the industry’s trauma are disappointing. The UK is a case in point of a government detached from reality. The global economic crisis makes cost reduction a matter of survival. And the upcoming Copenhagen meeting on climate change demands attention on measures to reduce emissions. What is the UK government doing? From 1 November it is increasing its Air Passenger Duty (APD) to collect GBP 2.5 billion annually from air travelers in the name of the environment. They have it all wrong. Taxes won’t reduce emissions. And making travel more expensive will not stimulate the economy,” said Bisignani.

The GBP 2.5 billion APD is completely disproportionate to the GBP572 million that it would cost to offset the entire carbon footprint of UK aviation. “Charging travelers over four times for their emissions makes absolutely no sense. Instead of raising taxes, the UK government should get behind the aviation industry’s ambitious targets to fight climate change, namely (1) improving fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5% annually to 2020, (2) stabilizing emissions from 2020 with carbon neutral growth and (3) cutting net emissions in half by 2050 compared to 2005 levels,” said Bisignani.

Edited - typos

[Rusland 17]

All taxes are going to have to - and should - rise in order to deal with the terrifying state of the nation's finances. But yet another small increase in APD is just going to irritate people disproportionately; the chancellor ought to simply slap VAT on air tickets and be done with it.

[The Real Slim Shady]

The concept of the level playing field springs to mind: examine the sources of emission and tax them proportionately.

Aviation is an easy hit: perhaps Robber Brown would care to tax share dealing, or bnker's bonuses proportinately?

[AUTOGLIDE]

All taxes are going to have to - and should - rise in order to deal with the terrifying state of the nation's finances. But yet another small increase in APD is just going to irritate people disproportionately; the chancellor ought to simply slap VAT on air tickets and be done with it.

Ridiculous. The UK public didn't cause the banks to fail and get bailed out by the government with tax payers money. It didn't drive the finances of the nation into the ground by over spending and the use of cinderella economics.

Why 'should' the already heavily taxed workers face more tax rises to sort out the problems of Gordon Brown. Yes there has been a recession, but our government made that of the UK far, far worse.
If you want to pay more for a ticket then good for you, but please don't presume everybody else should.

[Rusland 17]

Ridiculous. The UK public didn't cause the banks to fail and get bailed out by the government with tax payers money. It didn't drive the finances of the nation into the ground by over spending and the use of cinderella economics.No, none of it was the fault of the public, and the fact that other people's foolish behaviour has cost us all so much money makes me as angry as anyone.

But we have to face the fact that, for whatever reason and with whomever the blame lies, the country's finances are in a dreadful state. We, as a nation, need to start dealing with the public debt and budget deficit so that future generations are not forever paying off the debts this generation ran up. And that, like it or not, means higher taxes on everything and everybody, for there is very little that can be cut from public spending without affecting essential services. I'm merely being realistic.

I'm not arguing that the new rate of APD is reasonable, for I don't think it is. My own feeling is that air passenger duty should be around £10 per flight, with VAT being added to air travel (and other forms of transport, too) to make up the shortfall. That would seem to be a fair compromise that would not disproportionately penalise low-cost travellers. Ending the duty-free status of aviation fuel would be another excellent fund-raising measure, but not one that any government could implement alone.

[James 1077]

All taxes are going to have to - and should - rise in order to deal with the terrifying state of the nation's finances. But yet another small increase in APD is just going to irritate people disproportionately; the chancellor ought to simply slap VAT on air tickets and be done with it.



Sorry this is just wrong. The sensible thing to do is to cut taxes to stimulate demand and encourage investment in the country. This will have to be funded through a greater cut in government spending in the UK though as there is no capcacity to borrow until the stimulous starts working.

The family and I are currently looking at flying back to the UK for a holiday next year; the current flight plans have us flying into France and then catching the train up to London as it is both cheaper and we can avoid the hassle of Thiefrow. And this is why increasing taxes is totally the wrong thing to do.