Aviation: Passenger Duty

House of Lords written question – answered at on 12 July 2011.

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Photo of Lord Laird Lord Laird UUP

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the purpose of air passenger taxes.

Photo of Lord Sassoon Lord Sassoon The Commercial Secretary to the Treasury

The recent consultation on air passenger duty made clear that the Government's objectives for air passenger duty are that it should:

be a simple tax system for air transport in the UK;not hamper growth;ensure a fair contribution toward the public finances from the sector; andbe consistent with the Government's determination to reduce emissions across all parts of the economy.

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Annotations

John Byng
Posted on 14 Jul 2011 10:00 am (Report this annotation)

The Government's objectives for APD are clearly very sensible providing the growth objective relates to the whole economy rather than the aviation sector of the economy. Growth in aviation has, in the past, been artificially encouraged by tax concessions still worth over £9 billion a year. This has been at the expense of other sectors of the economy and so it is clear APD should be raised to remove this concession and provide a level playing field for efficient economic development. This could be done in stages and international agreements to limit taxation on aviation should be renegotiated accordingly.