If you have booked an airline ticket pre approx 17 December

[tedebear]

Sorry I fail to see how taxes of over £130.00 total for a return flight to the USA is a good thing. Especially when you consider that the basic cost of the flight at the moment is about £160.00. The tax will soon be more than the ticket

Well if it deters people from flying too much then its achieved its aim? Isn't it supposed to be a green tax to fight carbon emissions? Planes produce tons of the stuff so if people are deterred from jumping on a plane whenever they please then its a good thing? Just my thoughts anyhow...

Should get the business people in the pocket more so that they think twice about flying here there and everywhere when they can just as well have a video conference or phone call I think!

 

[Nemesis]

Good. People have to realise that cheap air travel is the biggest contributer to pollution in the atmosphere and has to be curbed. Otherwise we are all f***ed in the long run, simple as.

Don't let that get in the way of an anti-government rant by the ill-informed. These people think that by doing nothing to control pollution, the problem will go away.

 

[Titanic]

Well if it deters people from flying too much then its achieved its aim? Isn't it supposed to be a green tax to fight carbon emissions? Planes produce tons of the stuff so if people are deterred from jumping on a plane whenever they please then its a good thing? Just my thoughts anyhow...

Should get the business people in the pocket more so that they think twice about flying here there and everywhere when they can just as well have a video conference or phone call I think!

In the USA, air travel contributes 2.7% of their total greenhouse gas emissions - and only 10% of their total transport-related emissions.

It's just an easy target to tax the reasonably well-off AGAIN.

 

[Titanic]

Don't let that get in the way of an anti-government rant by the ill-informed. These people think that by doing nothing to control pollution, the problem will go away.

In the USA, air travel contributes 2.7% of their total greenhouse gas emissions - and only 10% of their total transport-related emissions.

It's just an easy target to tax the reasonably well-off AGAIN.

 

[tedebear]

In the USA, air travel contributes 2.7% of their total greenhouse gas emissions - and only 10% of their total transport-related emissions.

It's just an easy target to tax the reasonably well-off AGAIN.

what the stat in the UK?

 

[Icy Gull]

Don't let that get in the way of an anti-government rant by the ill-informed. These people think that by doing nothing to control pollution, the problem will go away.

So perhaps you'd like to give us the inside info on what is done with these taxes to control pollution, or is it just a way of raising funds to be diverted elsewhere whilst the govt hope to price people out of travelling by air. Sounds pretty flawed to me if these taxes aren't used to somehow reduce pollution but no doubt you can enlighten me

 

[Nemesis]

In the USA, air travel contributes 2.7% of their total greenhouse gas emissions - and only 10% of their total transport-related emissions.

It's just an easy target to tax the reasonably well-off AGAIN.

The "reasonably well off" are the biggest polluters. Fact. Chelsea Tractors, domestic flights whenever possible, etc., etc. Seems fair to me that they should be discouraged and/or made to pay.

Ignoring what is happening because one happens to be "reasonably well off" is not the solution.

 

[Albion Dan]

In the USA, air travel contributes 2.7% of their total greenhouse gas emissions - and only 10% of their total transport-related emissions.

It's just an easy target to tax the reasonably well-off AGAIN.

The USA are amongst the worst polluters across the board so its bound to be low, Id like to see what the stat is across the whole world. I can wager its not a good number.

One transatlantic flight is the equivalent of 20,000 miles worth of emissions from a car, multiply that by the hundreds of thousands of long haul flights every day, its not a rosy picture.

 

[Titanic]

The European Commission says that aviation accounts for only four per cent of EU-15 CO2 emissions and will account for five per cent of EU-25 CO2 emissions in 2030.

An easy target - that will have only a very small impact on overall emissions - assuming that there is a 10% reduction in air travel as a result of this taxation (which would be a massive change) it would result in approx 0.5% reduction in total emissions by 2030.

As I said, an easy target.

 

[tedebear]

The numbers themselves don't sound very big, but having just read through the BBC's article of a few weeks ago:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6195567.stm

The growth is alarming :

"Since 1990, they have gone up about 90% and, by 2020, they are going to be doubled, if business continues as usual."

SIGNS OF EMISSION
Aircraft produce about 3% of EU CO2 emissions - more than refineries or steel plants
They also emit nitrogen oxides which lead to the formation of another greenhouse gas, ozone
Condensation trails, which can develop into cirrus clouds, may also have a warming effect
International experts say aviation will account for 5% of total warming in 2050
The emissions trading scheme only covers CO2


Charges are "step forward"

The commission says 46% of this expected growth in aviation emissions - or 183 tonnes of CO2 per year - would be saved if its plan was implemented in full.

So I'm all for the tax if it deters people from flying, any step toward the reduction of greenhous gases and carbon emissions is a good thing in my book. Flying and the introduction of cheap airlines has been nothing but bad for the environment...

 

[cannedheat]

Would it stop me from flying, NO.

 

[Icy Gull]

Would it stop me from flying, NO.

It is gonna take much bigger taxes to have a real impact imo and at the moment it's a very convenient way for the govt to LOOK like they are doing the right thing whilst gaining loads of revenue. There is not one post on this thread that explains how the taxes are being used to combat pollution, just make money out of it. All very well appauding it but without actually using it for what it was raised for is not good enough imo and therefore does not justify it.

 

[Albion Dan]

The simple fact is that aviation is the fastest growing cause of global warming. The amount of carbon dioxide emitted by air travel doubled between 1990 and 2004. That is totally incompatible with the need to reduce carbon emissions by 60% by 2050.

 

[Rougvie]

As someone who works in Aircraft Maintanence, let me tell you that the airlines for years have known full well that aircraft are major contributers to pollution, why are all the major airlines trying to introduce measures to offset this? Because if they dont they will be hammered by legislation which most know is probably justified.

There will be NO 10% reduction in air travel, Ryanair and Easyjet plan to have fleets of 500 aircraft by 2009, in the UK alone there in 1995 there were about 300 commercial aircraft registered with over 100 seats, by 2010 there will be around 1700 !! And those figures are based on orders that have actually been placed now, some think Ryanair may be about to place an order for another 250 737's ! The model is repeateded the world over, particularly in India where its anticipated there will be a need for 3000 additional airliners to meet the demand for low cost travel. Its pretty frightening stuff.

The goverment have to do something (even if the money doesnt go directly back into the environment) as the growth in airlines is now impossible to stop.

 

[Nemesis]

So perhaps you'd like to give us the inside info on what is done with these taxes to control pollution, or is it just a way of raising funds to be diverted elsewhere whilst the govt hope to price people out of travelling by air. Sounds pretty flawed to me but no doubt you can enlighten me

Perhaps you'd like to prove that this is simply a 'stealth tax'? I am not a tax expert, nor am I a civil servant so I have no idea where the taxes will go. Do you?

Maybe they are hoping that this will price people out of making unnecessary flights. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. One thing you can be sure of-it won't only be this country where these taxes will be collected.

Sept 2005:

The Swedish government has said that it is planning a new tax on airline tickets of SEK50-100 (USD6.50-13).

According to the government, the new tax would be part of efforts to help the environment and would step into force in May next year. The new tax was announced as a part of the 2006 budget proposal. Countering protests from airlines, the government said that the tax is a necessary part of tax increases to a value of SEK3.6bn (USD468.5m) for promoting environmentally friendly energy usage.

You go ahead thinking it is merely a British "stealth tax". The rest of the world is beginning to think differently and one thing is for certain: the tories will not remove the tax. They just don't have to the balls to introduce such measures.

It isn't the poor who are major contributors to global warming yet they are the ones most affected by its effects. If the "well off" contribute most to pollution then it is fair they pay the most-or does that seem unfair to you?

 

[tedebear]

It is gonna take much bigger taxes to have a real impact imo and at the moment it's a very convenient way for the govt to LOOK like they are doing the right thing whilst gaining loads of revenue. There is not one post on this thread that explains how the taxes are being used to combat pollution, just make money out of it. All very well appauding it but without actually using it for what it was raised for is not good enough imo and therefore does not justify it.

Completely agree with your concerns - I'd like to see where the money goes as well...However my major concern is more for the environment - and how else are we supposed to curb peoples enthusiasm for jumping on a plane with no thought for anything, a colleague I used to work for in London did 40 trips to New York in 2001, is that really necessary? In my experience hitting them in the hip pocket is the only way...

 

[Icy Gull]

Perhaps you'd like to prove that this is simply a 'stealth tax'?

Obviously I can't but if it wasn't, would it be naive to think the govt would tell us how they were using it? You draw your conclusions, I'll draw mine

 

[tedebear]

Obviously I can't but if it wasn't, would it be naive to think the govt would tell us how they were using it? You draw your conclusions, I'll draw mine

I always thought a stealth tax was more of a hidden tax? Stealth didn't refer to how it was used, but more like "the price of nano doodles has just gone up 5p" without telling us that the price rise was due to an increase in import tax?

Since the airline tax is quite well published and discussed - I wouldn't think its a stealth tax?

As to how the money being rasied is used - who knows?