An interesting article from the BBC this morning: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7441450.stm
I have copied some of the main sentences from the article to provide a brief summary.
The US embassy in London has criticised a government plan to tax airlines on each plane rather than each passenger, from November next year.
It says the new tax appears to be just a way of generating extra revenue, and could breach international laws.
The Treasury denies it is proposing any tax which could be considered illegal, however, The Government says the new tax will help cut emissions, by discouraging airlines to fly planes that are half empty.
The Americans say there’s no evidence of any environmental benefit, as the extra millions raised would simply go into the government’s coffers.
There are also fears that airlines will avoid British airports – choosing instead to operate from other European airports where they will not be subject to the tax.
Anyone got an opinion on the matter at all, please share below!
By: HP81 - 7th June 2008 at 15:46
We all pay tax on any fuel we buy. Why shouldn’t the airlines!
Better still why should we if the airlines don’t!?
By: Grey Area - 7th June 2008 at 12:55
Moderatorial Mumblings
The Voices tell me that this thread is lurching towards General Discussion territory…..
GA
By: tenthije - 7th June 2008 at 12:36
The UK government Is Bankrupt , there is no more money in the bank and is trying to raise money any way it can , and this is just another one of those schemes
Its not just avaition Sandy, how long till we cant afford to drive , never mind flyKevin ( soon to be horse and cart driver)
Maybe they can borrow some money from Northern Rock! Being share holders they might get a good rate. :diablo:
By: kevinwm - 7th June 2008 at 11:30
The UK government Is Bankrupt , there is no more money in the bank and is trying to raise money any way it can , and this is just another one of those schemes
Its not just avaition Sandy, how long till we cant afford to drive , never mind fly
Kevin ( soon to be horse and cart driver)
By: Bmused55 - 7th June 2008 at 10:56
This goverment is determined to kill aviation in the UK.
They leave other forms of transport alone and targets aviation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/feb/13/climatechange.pollution
The true scale of climate change emissions from shipping is almost three times higher than previously believed, according to a leaked UN study seen by the Guardian.
It calculates that annual emissions from the world’s merchant fleet have already reached 1.12bn tonnes of CO₂, or nearly 4.5% of all global emissions of the main greenhouse gas.
The report suggests that shipping emissions – which are not taken into account by European targets for cutting global warming – will become one of the largest single sources of manmade CO₂after cars, housing, agriculture and industry. By comparison, the aviation industry, which has been under heavy pressure to clean up, is responsible for about 650m tonnes of CO₂emissions a year, just over half that from shipping.
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June 7, 2008 at 9:25 am