PARIS: Families going on holiday will pay £161 taxes before they even board the plane, a new analysis has found amid mounting pressure on Theresa May to cut VAT.
An analysis by the Taxpayer’s alliance found that holidaymakers will pay £2.4billion in tax – £900million more than they did in 2008. Overall, a family of four travelling to Spain with two children from the UK this summer will face an average bill of £161.20 on their flights and holiday purchases.
A similar family of four travelling to Florida from the UK will pay an average bill of £281.20. It comes as the Scottish Government pledged to reduce the burden of APD in Scotland by 50 per cent between 2018 and 2021. Since 2008, when the TaxPayers’ Alliance began compiling data, taxes on vacations have increased by more than £900 million.
Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Families across the UK work hard and save every year so they can enjoy a week away in the sun. “So hard-pressed taxpayers have every right to be angry that the taxman chases them all the way to the departure gate to squeeze that little bit extra from their budgets.”
Tim Alderslade, Chief Executive of the British Air Transport Association (BATA), the trade body for UK airlines, said:”APD is a departure tax on the hard pressed British traveller. “It is the highest levy of its kind in Europe – by a long way – and the Treasury should be upfront about why it is prepared to see families in this country pay substantially more to take a well earned break than their counterparts in places like France or Germany.
“Flight taxes of this kind – in the post-Brexit world – should be seen as an anomaly and the Government should follow the lead of the Scottish Government and announce a major reduction sooner rather than later.”
