Britannist

It used to be that business 'slammed' Labour Party proposals on tax -

"Easyjet slams Tory tax plan":

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/to...t-slams-t.html

Britannist

More news of a response to the "Quality of Life" report written by Conservative MP John Gummer (a committed europhile) -

Brief extract of comments made by Easyjet boss Andy Harrison on Radio Four's 'Today' programme this morning (from the report on the link given in the first posting to this thread):

"Domestic air travel is already very highly taxed... EasyJet's average domestic fare is £27, of which £10 is already air passenger duty (APD), which represents a tax of well over 50%."

In a statement issued at lunchtime today, Easyjet added (brief edited extracts) "The Quality of Life report (by Conservative MP John Gummer) is factually wrong, arrogantly London-centric and would tax the holidays of hard-working families. The report consigns the 50 million Britons not living in or around London to the status of second-class citizens for whom time is considered an unimportant commodity and the dream of high-speed rail is contradicted by the nightmare of today's reality. The UK already taxes flying more heavily than any other European country. But adding VAT to domestic air travel would simply put up the cost of family holidays, without providing any link to the CO2 emissions of a particular flight. It would also threaten the existence of many domestic air routes from communities all over the UK. The report is simply wrong to claim that trains are taxed more than flights at present. Diesel trains, such as the Virgin Voyager, emit more CO2 per passenger than easyJet flights per passenger. Believing that rail journeys are a viable substitute for short-haul air travel is an argument of the metropolitan London elite. For those living in the West Country, Wales, Scotland and many other parts of the UK the train is inconvenient, slow and expensive. Anybody suggesting that people in Northern Ireland can take the train must be living in cloud-cuckoo-land."

rjt

I hope the opposition will think again, higher taxes are not the way to get people to ' go green'

__________________
Mr Delors said that he wanted the European Parliament to be the democratic body of the community, The Commission to be The Executive and The Council Of Ministers The Senate. NO! NO! NO!
(Margaret Thatcher 30 Oct 1990)

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