SPAA PRESIDENT WRITES TO CHANCELLOR IN ADVANCE OF BUDGET

SPAA President Kevin Thom has written to the Chancellor - the Rt Hon George Osborne MP - in advance of his upcoming 2013 Budget statement, with a renewed call to the UK Government to listen actively to the concerns repeatedly expressed by the Fair Tax on Flying Campaign partners. His letter reads :

"Dear Chancellor

We are writing to you not only representing the Scottish Travel trade but also as active members of ‘ Fair Tax on Flying ‘ and endorsing the comments already made by other trade Associations such as ABTA, BATA, AOA and Bar UK, regarding the damaging impact that Air Passenger Duty (APD) is having on the Scottish economy.

Last November, the three main Scottish Airports produced the York Aviation report which highlighted that in addition to costing Scotland over two million passengers per annum, the report warns that by 2016 APD will cost the Scottish economy up to £210 million in lost tourism spend per annum.

In February of this year, PwC published an independent report outlining the overwhelming evidence of the economic benefits that the abolition of APD would deliver.  In light of this report we would add our voice to the Fair Tax on Flying plea to urge government to take immediate action in relation to the levels and impact of APD. We feel that the Government should not plan to go ahead with any more increases in APD when data now shows that a new approach could deliver net benefits to the Treasury.

You will also be aware that over 200,000 people and over 100 MP’s (EDM 174) have now called for the Treasury to undertake a macro-economic impact assessment of APD. We are extremely disappointed
that, thus far, the Government has refused to undertake this despite the very strong and growing Parliamentary and grass-roots support for such a review. We trust that you have considered and carefully researched this new robust and very credible evidence ahead of the imminent Budget.

We are also member of the Holyrood Cross Party Aviation Group and we would welcome an opportunity
to meet  with you and any of your team to discuss this further."

Commenting on this latest move by the Fair Tax on Flying campaign group, the President said, "Throughout the time we and colleague organisations have been lobbying this 'listening government' on the subject of APD, the evidence has continued to mount of the damage this tax is doing - not only to UK Plc but also to the coalition's own efforts to return our economy to growth. We will continue to pursue our case until the penny finally drops and the Chancellor accepts that incontrovertible evidence, or until we have a Chancellor who 'gets it'."

MTB 17/03/2013