Conservative Party reported ready to propose taxes on air travel

An environmental plan that was leaked to newspapers in the UK outlined a plan by the Conservative Party to impose new taxes on travel by air in an attempt to curb global warming. The idea, according to party official George Osborne, is to slow the growth of air travel to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses emitted by airlines flying in and out of UK airports. The proposed taxes are said to include a tax on frequent flyers, a preflight passenger tax, and a tax to encourage airlines to install fuel-efficient engines on their planes.

Mr. Osborne said that the taxes were aimed primarily at businesses and the airlines and were not meant to target occasional flyers who travel on holiday. He said that the plan included lowering other taxes to individuals to offset the higher charges for flying. However, the amount of taxes that businesses and airlines pay would likely rise under the plan.

Airlines protested that the plan would not work. British Airways (LSE: BAY; NYSE: BAB) said that the proposed taxes would not be effective in reducing carbon emissions. A spokesman for Virgin Atlantic said that the sorts of taxes in the proposal had already been proved ineffective and that a “per flight” tax could harm the UK economy, would make airlines less competitive, and could cause job loss as airlines and passengers would choose to fly out of airports in other European countries.

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