AIR PASSENGER DUTY ON FLIGHTS TO THE CARIBBEAN

That this House believes the current system of air passenger duty fails to provide the airlines with an effective disincentive for polluting; further believes that any duty should be based on the level of carbon emissions produced by flights rather than arbitrary zones based on the location of a country's capital; notes that under the current banding system flights to the Caribbean incur a higher tax than flights to the West Coast of the US, despite being closer to the UK; is concerned that this disadvantages those people who have friends and family in the Caribbean, while also failing to provide an incentive to cut emissions; further notes that replacing air passenger duty with a per plane tax would be fairer to passengers flying on busier routes and provide an incentive to airlines to cut emissions; welcomes the Government's commitment to reform the taxation of air travel by switching from a per passenger to aper plane duty as contained in the Coalition Agreement; expresses its disappointment that following the 2011 consultation on air passenger duty reform the Government decided not to make any changes to the structure of the duty; welcomes research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies which recommends switching to a per plane duty; and calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to outline in the Autumn Statement his plans to secure international agreement to allow the use of aper plane duty.