IATA terms new departure taxes in Belgium and Ireland as “Collective Madness”
16 Oct 2008
New Delhi: The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has criticised budget plans in Belgium and Ireland that mimic British and Dutch departure taxes as ''collective madness.''
''Collective madness is the only way to describe the €150 million Irish and €132 million Belgian departure tax proposals. Filling budget gaps or financing government investment in the banking industry with gratuitous travel taxes is policy myopia at its worst,'' said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO.
Two days ago, the Belgian and Irish governments announced plans to implement departure taxes in their new budgets.
Combined with the proposed UK Aviation Duty, and with the recently implemented Dutch departure tax, by 2010 air travellers could face a tax burden of up to €3.8 billion per annum in these four counties alone, the IATA said in a statement.
''The timing could not be worse for governments to make mobility more expensive. Look at what has happened in fuel, the biggest cost item for airlines. Even with the recent drop, today's price is still over 300 per cent more expensive than it was only a few years ago,'' said Bisignani.
''Rather than collective action to squeeze taxpayers, Europe's governments should be looking to improve European competitiveness. An effective Single European Sky would save 16 million tonnes of CO2 annually and improve the competitiveness of Europe's skies by over EUR 5 billion,'' said Bisignani.
