Chancellor announces industry consultation after protest campaign
The Chancellor has offered a lifeline to the UK air cargo industry by refusing to impose a perplane duty instead of the current per-passenger tax.
During his budget speech this week, Chancellor George Osborne said the government would only “explore changes to the aviation tax system” and would “consult on major changes”. Reports suggest a statement on the per-plane tax is likely to be published in the autumn.
IFW has been at the forefront of an industry protest against the proposed per-plane tax. Leading figures have echoed our warning that introducing the tax could do irreparable damage to an industry that is still reeling from the effects of the recession.
Christopher Snelling, the UK Freight Transport Association‟s Head of Global Supply Chain Policy, said: “The FTA welcomes the government‟s commitment to consult on possible changes to aviation taxation and we will participate fully in this process. “Any measure which penalises air freight in the UK would run the risk of hurting UK competitiveness in international markets and will be robustly challenged."
The move was also cautiously welcomed by the British International Freight Association (Bifa). Director General Peter Quantrill said Bifa would lobby all its contacts in government to make the point that the idea was “ill conceived” and would do nothing to “uphold the UK‟s competitive edge as a major freight hub”.
“The „plane tax‟ proposal is not new – the previous government considered it but realised after consultation with trade, including Bifa, that there were a number of show-stopping impracticalities,”
said Quantrill. “ Not least, those relative to taxing airlines whose aircraft use UK airports as a drop/pick-up point for through services en-route from origin to final destination.”
IFW Editor Kizzi Nkwocha said: “I‟m encouraged that the government has accepted that imposing a per-plane tax without proper consultation and consideration would be a mistake.
Source: Kizzi Nkwocha, IFW News, 24 June 2010