Irish government to abolish air tax
British Government urged to follow suit and scrap "counter-productive" Air Passenger Duty.
Britain currently charges passengers the highest rates of aviation tax in Europe
By Oliver Smith 10:31AM GMT 11 Mar 2011
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Ireland’s Fine Gael-Labour coalition has promised to abolish tax on air travel, in an effort to increase the number of visitors to the country.
The number of travellers flying into Ireland fell from 7.7 million in 2007 to 5.6 million last year.
An air passenger tax of €10 per person was introduced two years ago, then reduced to €3 last year.
The move follows the Dutch government’s decision to abandon its tax on air travel in 2009. The tax recouped around €300 million each year, but was estimated to cost the country’s wider economy more than €1.2 billion.
Mark Tanzer, the chief executive of Abta, the travel association, said: “The Irish government is just the latest to see that taxing air passengers is counter-productive, with any revenue raised outweighed by the damage caused to the wider economy.”
Britain currently charges passengers the highest rates of aviation tax in Europe. Air Passenger Duty (APD) currently earns the Government around £3.8 billion each year.
Last week, Telegraph Travel and Abta launched a new petition for a fair tax on flying. Sign the petition here.
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