CfIT Urges UK Government To Tax Aviation Industry

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

02 September 2003

A study by the British Commission for Integrated Transport (CfIT) recommends that the government impose stiffer taxes on the aviation industry to tackle airspace congestion, pollution and other external factors that have a negative impact on the environment.

According to the Commission's conclusions, airlines are not held accountable enough for the amount of pollution they cause and imposing charges ion the industry would be consistent with the Blair government's 'polluter pays' principle.

"What we are proposing is nothing short of a radical reform to make operators and passengers confront the environmental consequences of their actions," says Professor David Begg, the CfIT chair, adding: "At the moment there is little incentive for airlines and passengers to change their behaviour."

"Airports have a huge impact on the communities they serve as well as on the environment at large and we need to make sure that, in a world of growing demand, environmental impact is kept to a manageable minimum," Begg explains.

One of the main shortcomings of the present situation, says the report, is the rate of Aviation Passenger Duty which is levied at between £5 and £40 per passenger raising £800 million a year for the Treasury. "But this is just over half the £1.4 billion cost due to climate change emissions the industry is responsible for in the UK, let alone the cost of the remaining impacts," says the report.

"Much more account needs to be taken of the congestion on runways and in the air, local environmental impacts, health effects, greenhouse gases and land blight," says the Commission.

It continues: "By auctioning slots, setting ceilings on noise, putting a cost on congested airspace and giving local communities more control over the local noise and environmental impacts, aviation will be able to develop in harmony with the communities it serves."

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