O’Leary fresh APD rise criticism
05.10.09
Next month’s rise in the Air Passenger Duty (APD) is ‘insanely stupid’ and will ‘destroy’ UK tourism, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary told a press conference in London. The increase is effectively a ‘tax on the poor’, he claimed.
However, he conceded that the money to be raised by the change is so significant - given the Governments tax shortfall - that there was no chance of it reversing the increase. Instead he has urged the Conservatives, if they win the General Election next year, to change APD so it was no longer a flat-rate tax but reflects how much was paid for the airline ticket.
Mr O’Leary said: ‘This is an insanely stupid tax and will destroy tourism. It’s unfair, particularly on poor people, and will devastate visitor numbers to the UK in 2009. If the Conservatives want a quick win they will change APD so it becomes proportionate to the amount paid for tickets. At the moment APD is a huge and disproportionate tax.’
If the change was made, we hope it would include all of Rynair's ludicrous charges in the ticket price that APD calculated on, to reflect the actual cost of flying with the airline.
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