Further air tax rise expected today
ABTA is convinced Chancellor George Osborne will announce a further hike in Air Passenger Duty during his Autumn Statement today.
Chief executive Mark Tanzer said his meeting this week with Sajid Javid, the minister responsible for the tax, led him to believe another rise of the unpopular tax was on the cards.
"Despite the clear calls from the public and businesses, the Government is still refusing to commission an independent review into APD," said Tanzer.
"It is evident that the Treasury is still to be convinced of the merits of this approach. With another rise in APD expected to be announced it’s vital that businesses and consumers continue to maintain the pressure on the Government to freeze APD until they have conducted a proper, independent analysis on the impacts of this tax on the economy."
His comments came as the latest ABTA survey into public opinion around APD revealed that almost two thirds think it is already too high.
Only one in five thinks that current levels are right and 4% think that UK flyers do not pay enough tax.
Almost half the public (47%) believe that APD puts the UK economy at a disadvantage and only one in 10 of the 2008 questioned said they didn’t believe that was the case.
A lmost a third (31%) said they would consider travelling to an airport outside the UK to take a flight to avoid APD.
Pensioners are most opposed to the level of tax with 70% of over 65 years old saying it’s too high, compared with just 47% of 15 to 24 year olds.
ABTA is one of the leading members of the Fair Tax on Flying campaign (www.afairtaxonflying.org), which is calling on the Government to commission an independent report into the economic impact of APD on the UK economy.
This has been supported by over 200,000 e-mail letters sent to MPs by UK residents and a further 100,000 emails from overseas visitors to the UK.
The Chancellor will deliver his Aututmn Statement in the House of Commons at 12.30 today.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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