Willie Walsh attacks plans for increased tax
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, has today attacked government plans to increase air tax in the UK under the "green" banner. Like many people in the industry he believes that after a period when growth was encouraged by governments around the world the airline industry is now being penalised for this investment by the very governments which pushed the issue in the first place. So is this fair?
Yet again we have the "green" issue coming to the fore when "green" is in many cases a new word for increased taxes. We have seen this on the roads in the UK, we have seen this in local government refuse collection and we have seen this in many other areas of everyday life. It seems local authorities and national governments are intent on increasing their income from "green" issues and UK taxpayers and UK businesses are set to foot the bill.
When you consider that the likes of British Airways have suffered dramatically from a downturn in passenger numbers over the last couple of years, not to mention industrial action and pension fund issues, maybe now is the time for the industry to fight back. Is now also the time for consumers and businesses in the UK to fight the ongoing "green revolution"?
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