Caribbean360: Britain warned against increasing controversial aviation tax

Britain warned against increasing controversial aviation tax
================================================================================
Chris Hoyos on 07/11/2011 09:34:00
 
LONDON, England, Monday November 7, 2011 - A powerful group of private sector
businesses in Britain has called for the government to scrap planned increases
to the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD).
This bolsters the position of Caribbean tourism stakeholders, who have long
warned of the impact of the tax.
Now, the British Chambers of Commerce has cautioned, in a recently report, that
the economy will suffer serious losses due to the tax, which is set to increase
further early next year.
The BCC said increasing the tax should not be a government priority at this
time.
“In the UK, APD has increased between 140% and 320% since 2007, with a further
increase of 5% expected in April 2012,” the group stated in its report
entitled Flying in the Face of Jobs and Growth: How Aviation Needs to Change to
Support UK Business.
It cited Belgium, Holland, and Denmark, as being among the many European
countries that have had to abandon aviation taxes because of the negative effect
the APD has had on their economies.
“Analysis in the BCC report shows that a five percent year-on-year rise in APD
could cost the economy at least 70m by 2015, 190m by 2020 and 660m by 2030; and
reduce the number of jobs by as much as 25,000 by 2015, 71,000 by 2020 and
250,000 by 2030,” the report said.
It suggested that Britain instead focus on additional revenues that would be
generated through the European Union’s carbon Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS)
that takes effect from 2012.
“While the BCC wants to see the aviation sector deal with carbon emissions,
current plans effectively mean double taxation for Britain’s aviation
industry,” the report explained.
“The government should offset current APD taxation with the direct revenue it
will receive from the EU ETS. This will ensure our aviation industry can
continue to support supply chains, jobs and economic activity.” Click here to
receive free news bulletins via email from Caribbean360. (View sample)