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Old 19th October 2008 | 07:45
  #4 (permalink)  
Mike Cross
 
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,784
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From: Savannah GA & Portsmouth UK
Not just aircraft. Spare a thought also for the marine industry where diesel will be going up by the same amount.

This all comes about from an EU thing claled the Energy Products Directive, from which the UK had a derogation that is now expiring.

Many years ago AOPA UK managed to persuade HMG that avgas should not be taxed at the same level as road fuel. They and others have now persuaded HMRC that avgas should be treated as a "specialist fuel" and that the duty rate should again not be raised to the same level as that for road fuel. Unfortunately that argument did not prevail for avtur.

Of course the commercial sector (AOC holders and airlines) were able to marshall resources and lobbying to ensure they did not get hammered. The leisure pilots sadly do not have the lobbying clout because too few of them are willing to fund campaigning by joining organisations that lobby on their behalf. The result is that a fledgling industry will go to the wall for the sake of squeezing a small amount of extra revenue out of an inefficient and costly taxation system.

More info here
and here
and here
and here
and here

Particularly noteworthy in the last document from HMRC is the statement
Private pleasure use of avtur, and therefore the revenue impact, is considered negligible.
The lesson to be learned from all of this is to get off your @rse and either submit your own responses to consultations or join an organisation that will fight on your behalf.
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