A LEADING environmental charity has called on the Scottish Government to reveal which parts of society will pay for cutting air passenger duty (APD) in half.
WWF Scotland director Lang Banks spoke out yesterday as ministers chaired the first meeting of the Scottish APD stakeholder forum, a panel aimed at reforming and reducing the tax.
The Scottish Government is to gain power over this area of taxation as part of a range of recommendations put forward in the Smith Commission report.
The change is currently under consideration at Westminster as part of the new Scotland Bill and the SNP administration aims to slash the tax by 50 per cent during the first term of the next parliament, scrapping it completely when “public finances permit”.
Research for Edinburgh Airport found halving the charge would take 700,000 more travellers through terminals in the first year alone.
As they sat down with representatives of the aviation industry in Edinburgh, Finance Secretary John Swinney and Infrastructure Minister Keith Brown yesterday announced a consultation would be held this autumn.
But Banks said the environmental and social costs of cutting the tax could outweigh economic benefits.
Since the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Act passed in 2009 greenhouse gas emissions have surpassed targets by almost 10 million tonnes, and it is suggested that axing the tax would create 60,000 tonnes more emissions every year.
Banks said: “Any conclusions of the Scottish Government and this forum must take into account the impacts on the climate.
“The Scottish Government’s own analysis shows that cutting APD by half would increase Scotland’s climate emissions from flying.
“If ministers insist on going ahead with its plans to increase climate emissions from flying, then it will have to explain which other sectors of society will pick up the shortfall and at what cost.”
Swinney said the SNP administration was committed to growing traffic through Scotland’s airports to benefit “passengers, business, tourism and our wider economy”.
“The APD stakeholder forum brings together interested parties – from those in the aviation industry to environmental groups and tax practitioners – to provide expert input into how a replacement tax could work.
“We want to be consultative and collaborative. The forum and this autumn’s policy consultation allow us to take the next step and begin the process of designing and developing a Scottish APD to help deliver our objective of sustainable economic growth.
“They are also further examples of the Scottish Government moving ahead with pace and purpose to ensure we are ready to use Scotland’s new additional powers as soon as possible after they have been devolved.”
Sir John Elvidge, who represents Edinburgh Airport, Scotland’s busiest, said APD was "placing a drag on Scotland’s growth” and costing jobs.
Green party co-convenor Patrick Harvie urged the Scottish Government not to scrap APD without first finding a “fair and sustainable solution”.
He said: “While it’s encouraging that Scottish ministers are no longer proposing to scrap APD without a replacement, it’s clear that the aviation industry will fight tooth and nail against any fair and sustainable solution. They already enjoy massive tax breaks, and they know that continual growth in aviation is simply incompatible with responsible climate change policy.
“If the Scottish Government is remotely serious about its climate change commitments, it needs a replacement tax that will cut pollution without making aviation unaffordable for everyone but the wealthiest.
“The most positive idea yet proposed is a frequent flyer levy, under which people would pay nothing if they took one return flight a year, but after that the levy would rise with each extra flight.
“This would acknowledge the enormous environmental impact of aviation, while recognising that most of the growth in flights isn’t due to people taking an annual family holiday – it’s due to a wealthy jet-set minority who are coming to treat air travel as casually as hailing a taxi.”
But Sophie Dekkers of budget airline easyJet said the change would benefit Scots, stating: “EasyJet has long campaigned for the removal of Air Passenger Duty. We know that its impact is most keenly felt in Scotland, where passengers flying domestically pay £13 on both ?flights.
“Now that powers over APD are being devolved to Scotland, and as Scotland’s biggest airline, we are pleased to be working with the Scottish Government to halve and then abolish the tax.
“Passengers in Scotland will quickly feel the benefit, with easyJet and other airlines adding more services to existing destinations and launching flights to new destinations.?”
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