AIR PASSENGER DUTY ON FLIGHTS TO THE CARIBBEAN

Motion Text

That this House believes the current system of air passenger duty fails to provide the airlines with an effective disincentive for polluting; further believes that any duty should be based on the level of carbon emissions produced by flights rather than arbitrary zones based on the location of a country's capital; notes that under the current banding system flights to the Caribbean incur a higher tax than flights to the West Coast of the US, despite being closer to the UK; is concerned that this disadvantages those people who have friends and family in the Caribbean, while also failing to provide an incentive to cut emissions; further notes that replacing air passenger duty with a per plane tax would be fairer to passengers flying on busier routes and provide an incentive to airlines to cut emissions; welcomes the Government's commitment to reform the taxation of air travel by switching from a per passenger to aper plane duty as contained in the Coalition Agreement; expresses its disappointment that following the 2011 consultation on air passenger duty reform the Government decided not to make any changes to the structure of the duty; welcomes research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies which recommends switching to a per plane duty; and calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to outline in the Autumn Statement his plans to secure international agreement to allow the use of aper plane duty.