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UK might replace vexing tax
Published: Wednesday | January 19, 2011 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer WESTERN BUREAU:
[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Tourism[/COLOR][/COLOR] Minister Edmund Bartlett is weighing his hopes on information that the [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]United [COLOR=blue! important]Kingdom[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] Treasury has informally confirmed the probability of a successor regime to the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD).
The APD was introduced in 1994 as a 'green tax', but [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Caribbean[/COLOR][/COLOR] governments believe that it is failing to encourage a shift to lower-carbon travel and, as such, needs to be redesigned. This is based on the premise that the current structure penalises longer journeys which do not have a lower carbon alternative.
Speaking to journalists at the close of Caribbean Marketplace at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James yesterday, Bartlett revealed that Caribbean tourism ministers have been informed that, come March 23, the chancellor of the exchequer in the British government will be making a statement regarding the future of the tax during a UK Budget presentation.
'Meaningful dialogue'
He said this was the closest the region has come to any "meaningful dialogue", as there was reluctance for consultations by the UK government.
Bartlett, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, several tourism ministers from the region, and officials of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation have all travelled to London in the past lobbying for a change in the tax, which has risen 275 per cent above pre-2007 rates for all cabin classes to the Caribbean.
The last increase took effect November last year, which saw a band of between £75 and £150 being applied to the airline tickets purchased by travellers heading out of London gateways into the Caribbean.
The announcement that the chancellor of the exchequer was taking the issue to the British government comes days after Golding promised he would not rest until 'justice' was secured in the matter.
Published: Wednesday | January 19, 2011 0 Comments and 0 Reactions
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer WESTERN BUREAU:
[COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Tourism[/COLOR][/COLOR] Minister Edmund Bartlett is weighing his hopes on information that the [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]United [COLOR=blue! important]Kingdom[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] Treasury has informally confirmed the probability of a successor regime to the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD).
The APD was introduced in 1994 as a 'green tax', but [COLOR=blue! important][COLOR=blue! important]Caribbean[/COLOR][/COLOR] governments believe that it is failing to encourage a shift to lower-carbon travel and, as such, needs to be redesigned. This is based on the premise that the current structure penalises longer journeys which do not have a lower carbon alternative.
Speaking to journalists at the close of Caribbean Marketplace at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James yesterday, Bartlett revealed that Caribbean tourism ministers have been informed that, come March 23, the chancellor of the exchequer in the British government will be making a statement regarding the future of the tax during a UK Budget presentation.
'Meaningful dialogue'
He said this was the closest the region has come to any "meaningful dialogue", as there was reluctance for consultations by the UK government.
Bartlett, Prime Minister Bruce Golding, several tourism ministers from the region, and officials of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation have all travelled to London in the past lobbying for a change in the tax, which has risen 275 per cent above pre-2007 rates for all cabin classes to the Caribbean.
The last increase took effect November last year, which saw a band of between £75 and £150 being applied to the airline tickets purchased by travellers heading out of London gateways into the Caribbean.
The announcement that the chancellor of the exchequer was taking the issue to the British government comes days after Golding promised he would not rest until 'justice' was secured in the matter.
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