Tax Hike for Travel

Submitted by: KevinB

Air Travel taxes are expected to rise in the near future in the UK as MPs have called for higher taxes as a way of tackling the problem of carbon dioxide emissions from aviation. However, most aviation fuel is burned by aeroplanes in queuing for take-off and landing rather than in the journey itself.

An increase in the aviation tax will not be the answer and will certainly not achieve the desired affect of lowering carbon dioxide emissions but simply increase the cost of Air Travel. Naturally, a tax hike will be passed onto consumers and as a result, it will be the poorer people who are affected most as they will find themselves unable to afford a well earned 'cheap-flight' for an annual holiday.

MPs have targeted the air travel industry as according to their reports, the transport sector in the UK economy is the only sector to have continually increased carbon dioxide emissions since 1990, where air traffic emissions doubled.

Obviously the figures do not reveal if the percentage of emissions to total journeys have increased, but rather the fact that total emissions have increased. Instead of putting taxes up and hitting poorer people, the government may need to look at building more airports to cater for the increased demand in air travel.

Budget Airline companies are obviously disheartened by the MPs calling for this latest increase, as it will severely impact on their development and success. However, if more airports are built, the queuing and waiting for take-off and landing can be much shorter which would add to the efficiency of the aviation fuel used and consequently will have an impact on the carbon dioxide emission levels.

The government should also look into taxing airline companies who fail to invest in more efficient air transport rather than something that can be directly applied to passengers. Reforms to Air Traffic Control, investing in more efficient aeroplanes and possibly looking at increasing the number of Airports would be more effective in reducing carbon dioxide emissions than passing taxes directly to passengers.

Taxes however, are the easy option to consider but are not necessarily a measure that will be effective. Air Travel was not the only area that MPs are considering hiking the taxes for, but it certainly is one area that should be revised by government and the airline industry before implementing any additional taxes.

About the Author

KevinB is an article researcher for various topics including Air Travel Articles for Ad-Matrix.net article directory.

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