In a joint letter with my Parliamentary neighbours Pauline Latham MP and Andrew Bridgen MP, I recently wrote the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, to urge him to support hard-working and hard-pressed families by scrapping Air Passenger Duty on children’s flights (2-11 years) in his Autumn Statement tomorrow. I believe such a move would help to make the annual holiday more affordable for my constituents.
As you may be aware, currently children pay the same tax on their tickets as adults, despite the well-established principle that children are exempt from taxation – for example VAT on food and clothing.
Despite positive changes in the last Budget, APD remains significantly higher than similar taxes in other countries. This means that UK families pay more tax on flying than families anywhere else in the world. APD adds £52 to the cost of a family of four’s economy class flights to destinations in Europe and £276 to economy class flights to longer haul destinations, such as the US.
There are strong rumours that the Chancellor will introduce this in his Autumn Statement tomorrow. Such a move would help local families and it would also support our local airport, East Midlands Airport, which means growth and jobs for people here in Amber Valley. I therefore urge the Chancellor to scrap the tax on family flights tomorrow.
You can read the letter that we sent to the Chancellor here.