Show us how the money will be spent
Comment by Jeremy Skidmore (http://www.jeremyskidmore.com/)
The industry may have given a cautious welcome to the government’s new plan for a green tax, but we need to know how it will work and, crucially, where the money will be spent.
New Chancellor Alistair Darling wants to charge Air Passenger Duty per flight, instead of per passenger, from November 2009.
But clearly, they haven’t really got a clue how to implement it, so will consult with various interested parties before going any further.
There are numerous theories around, including that it will force airlines to think carefully about their capacity and whether they are prepared to fly half-empty planes.
I disagree with my old friend Noel Josephides of Sunvil Holidays. He is in favour because he says it will end the ‘ridiculous situation where people are flying for free all over Europe’.
If Ryanair – or anyone else – has a business model that allows people to fly free and then makes its money elsewhere, what is wrong with that? It’s capitalism and if it doesn’t work, the airline in question goes bust.
I don’t think you can start saying that cheap or free flights are evil. If we simply make them more expensive, we cut back on the number of people flying and only the well-off can step on to aircraft.
Cheap flights are one on the best things to have happened in the past decade. They’ve opened the world up to people who were previously marooned in the UK.
If you believe in an environmental tax, then airlines should be penalised for flying older aircraft and forced to donate a percentage of profits to environmental projects. I look forward to Noel’s response on this!
In general, I support a move away from imposing the tax burden on individuals, who are not the main polluters, and on to companies, even though they will obviously pass on some or all of their costs.
Also, I want to know where this money is going to be spent. So-called environmental taxes are generally a lie, because the money just goes into the general coffers.
I’ve said before that people are disillusioned because they know they are just being taxed to pay for things like the war in Iraq. As someone found out this week, you can’t keep treating people like fools.
The new proposals may be a step in the right direction but the devil is in the detail. Nobody is sure how they will work and that includes the government.
Jeremy Skidmore
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