Business | Aviation
UK flyers to face increase in taxes
In order to combat climate change, flyers in the UK will soon face a "significant increase" in taxes, along with a new charge for longer flights, a group of MPs said in a report on Wednesday.
- Agencies
- Published: 18:28 March 5, 2008
London: In order to combat climate change, flyers in the UK will soon face a "significant increase" in taxes, along with a new charge for longer flights, a group of MPs said in a report on Wednesday.
Higher “green taxes'' will cut demand for air travel, help conserve resources and raise money for environmental projects, according to a the Environmental Audit Committee.
The MPs added that a increased and reformed tax on aviation is vital to stabilise demand and resulting effect on the environment.
They said aviation was "very lightly taxed", with a 29 per cent cut in real terms between May 1997 and February 2007.
Longer trips should be taxed even further, because emissions for them, such as a flight to Australia, are three times those of a journey to New York. Currently both are simply categorised as long-haul, their report said.
Emissions created at take off and landing will also be considered, regardless of the length of the journey.
The committee also implied that the government should have been bolder in talking about the benefits of green taxes.
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