V-Flyer

Well I signed Steve Ridgeway's petition and emailed my MP. Today I had the following response :-

Thank you for your email regarding Air Passenger Duty (APD).
The Government inherited the highest structural budget deficit of any major economy in the world and the highest deficit in our peacetime history. The UK is currently paying over £120 million every day on debt interest payments alone. APD makes an important contribution to reducing the nation’s deficit and this must be taken into account.
Last year the Government launched a consultation on APD to improve the fairness and efficiency of the current system. Ministers recognise the importance of the aviation industry which is why the Budget in 2011 announced APD would be frozen for 2011-12 and the rise would take place this April instead. I do of course recognise the impact this tax has on the cost of family holidays, especially at a time when household spending is being stretched.
To ensure fairness, Ministers have closed a loophole so that from April 2013, business jet passengers will also have to pay this tax.
The reduction in the deficit, combined with the low interest rates this Government has secured, means that the UK is saving £36 billion in debt interest payments compared to our predecessors.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
David Davies

So it looks like it will have no effect at all, not that I really expected any!

I do sometimes wonder if politicians have contests amongst themselves to see how many words they can use to string out the phrase "sod you".

Perhaps next they will designate all flights to AMS as an agressive form of tax avoidance...

It really winds me up that all ministers do is blame previous governments for inheriting problems rather than take their own responsibility.

"low interest rates this Government has secured" - what a load of rubbish. The only reason we still have low interest rates is that we are entering a double dip recession. Low interest rates have failed to stimulate economic growth meaning the BoE has been left no alternative other than quantative easing.

http://www.paulinelatham.co.uk/26062012_air_passenger_duty

Seems like most MPs are using the same rhetoric!

My MP was slightly different:
 
Anas Sarwar MP has asked me to thank you for contacting him recently regarding the Government’s decision to increase Air Passenger Duty (APD) by 8% from 1st April 2012.
 
Mr Sarwar appreciates your concern about the increase, which will be particularly keenly felt given the current economic climate with high inflation and the Government’s decision to increase VAT already seriously squeezing household incomes.
 
The Government had promised to reform APD but, having carried out a lengthy public consultation in 2011, have brought forward no new proposals and instead confirmed in the March 2012 Budget that APD will increase by 8% this year and by inflation in 2013.  In its response to the consultation, the Government confirmed it would continue to examine the feasibility and effects of devolving APD to Scotland.
 
Many airlines, passenger groups and campaigns including ‘Fair Tax on Flying’ and ‘Hands off Our Holidays’ are urging the Government to undertake a review assessing the impact of aviation taxes on the UK economy.  Mr Sarwar is disappointed that the Government has not listened to their concerns and fulfilled its promise to consider taxation of the aviation industry as a whole.
 
Mr Sarwar has signed EDM’s on many different issues in the past.  However, he has recently been elected Deputy Leader of the Scottish Labour Party, and so unfortunately due to parliamentary protocol he will no longer be signing any more EDM’s. 
 
He has asked me to reassure you that he will continue to follow this issue closely and to thank you once again for writing to him to share your views on the matter.  
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Yassar Abbas
Office of Anas Sarwar MP
Deputy Leader of the Labour Party

Be interesting to see what Lib Dem MPs say now we've had the Tories and Labour.

I received the same stock copy/paste boilerplate response as well from my MP.

Strange how APD affects passenger, yet fuel surcharges don't.
Even excusing my cynism on the subject, why hasn't the fuel surcharge moved passengers to contact their MPs?

If APD is changed, will we see tax on aviation fuel?

Sealink wrote:Strange how APD affects passenger, yet fuel surcharges don't.
Even excusing my cynism on the subject, why hasn't the fuel surcharge moved passengers to contact their MPs?

Sealink, you and I share the same feelings about the surcharge issue....VS are getting away with this extortionate charge quietly v( Shall we start a petition for this i)

AndyH wrote:"low interest rates this Government has secured" - what a load of rubbish. The only reason we still have low interest rates is that we are entering a double dip recession. Low interest rates have failed to stimulate economic growth meaning the BoE has been left no alternative other than quantative easing.

The strange thing is this widespread belief that low interest rates are a solution to anything.

They have previously only ever been a luxury which are available once an economy is strong and in recent years they've been held artificially low to support existing debt, and in effect the housing market. The fact that artificially low interest rates (when actual interest rates worldwide are higher) only makes it commercially unviable to loan money, and dries up the money supply up, killing businesses.

To have low interest rates when the money supply is low, is a wonderful thing. To have them when it is not, is a crippling thing.

But from your original point, this was Labours view as well as this lot, so its no change there...

And as for quantitive easing? As the phrase goes: "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." . How many times have we repeated this and its done nothing?

Petmadness wrote:

Sealink wrote:Strange how APD affects passenger, yet fuel surcharges don't.
Even excusing my cynism on the subject, why hasn't the fuel surcharge moved passengers to contact their MPs?

Sealink, you and I share the same feelings about the surcharge issue....VS are getting away with this extortionate charge quietly v( Shall we start a petition for this i)

Petition - I am on board, show me where to sign

Petmadness wrote:

Sealink wrote:Strange how APD affects passenger, yet fuel surcharges don't.
Even excusing my cynism on the subject, why hasn't the fuel surcharge moved passengers to contact their MPs?

Sealink, you and I share the same feelings about the surcharge issue....VS are getting away with this extortionate charge quietly v( Shall we start a petition for this i)

YES!! y)

We may not like the fuel surcharge and I agree with the sentiments. But, APD is also worthy of attention - last year I (or rather my company) paid another £4,000 or more in APD, up on the year before, in addition to our high tax society, and I think the gov. views APD as an easy tax to raise. There is plenty of support for arguments that people avoid the UK and its airlines because of it. So I've added my voice to the petition, it goes up to much.

A mass VF petition on surcharges.... Eek could rattle some cages...
But it's getting out of hand, least if it reverts to base fare they can be shown to be groundbreaking -A PR opportunity VS....

I would certainly be on board to sign a V -Flyer's fuel surcharge petition. It would let VS know the depth of our dissatisfaction with this charge and maybe we would get reward flights without this extortionate levy, even if it did mean spend a few extra miles on the reward flights.

ratechaser wrote:Perhaps next they will designate all flights to AMS as an agressive form of tax avoidance...

Forgive me if I sound dumb, but would you be able to explain how going to AMS avoids APD?

Should also include and remind them what a legal definition of a "Surcharge" is....still amazes me this hasn't been challenged yet??
Additional charge to the passenger to compensate for a TEMPORARY increase in fuel prices on the international trade markets and a resulting TEMPORARY increase in cost of fuel at the airports where the carrier operates.

clarkeysntfc wrote:

ratechaser wrote:Perhaps next they will designate all flights to AMS as an agressive form of tax avoidance...

Forgive me if I sound dumb, but would you be able to explain how going to AMS avoids APD?

Let me rephrase that to 'all flights via AMS' then...

ratechaser wrote:

clarkeysntfc wrote:

ratechaser wrote:Perhaps next they will designate all flights to AMS as an agressive form of tax avoidance...

Forgive me if I sound dumb, but would you be able to explain how going to AMS avoids APD?

Let me rephrase that to 'all flights via AMS' then...

Surely if you're leaving the UK by aeroplane you're still paying APD? So LHR-JFK has much the same APD as LHR-AMS-LHR-JFK?

I think he means the ex-EU flight trick.

Blimey that was hard work. I'll put my teeth in next time I try and make a wittily sarcastic remark

@clarkeysntfc - you can read all about the AMS trick here

I got the reply below from John Redwood a few hours after sending my email to him.

"Thank you for your campaign email concerning flying tax. I am taking this up with the Treasury on behalf of constituents. I can understand the strength of feeling against this expensive levy, and will let you see the Treasury response."

I signed the petition and received the following back;

Dear Mr Bucks1

Thank you for your letter with respect to Early Day Motion 174 on Air Passenger Duty. As Speaker, I must remain impartial, and therefore cannot sign the EDM as you request. However, I have received a number of representations on this issue and have already written to the Chancellor of Exchequer Rt Hon. George Osborne Mp, outlining the concerns that have been raised with me. I will be in touch as soon as I have received a response. If I can be of any further assistance in the meantime, in this matter or any other, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Love n Kisses

John

I paraphrased the signature block!!!