英国航空出境需征税

Every passenger departing the UK has to pay a fee. It varies depending on where you are flying to and where you are sitting on the plane.

Air passenger duty is divided into four categories or bands based on the distance between London and the final destination. Band A, if you are flying up to 2,000 miles away, economy passengers are charged $20; passengers in premium economy, business and first class pay about double at $39. Band B, if you are flying up to 4,000 miles away, like Cairo, it’s $98 in economy and $195 in premium cabins. Band C, up to 6,000 miles away, including the Caribbean, is $122 in economy and $244 in the rest of the plane. And it goes even higher in Band D, destinations that are more than 6,000 miles away will be charged $138 in economy and $277 in premium seats. And remember, this is just for one ticket. So a family of four travelling to Singapore or Australia in economy will have to cough up $553 even before they pay the airfare, which has priced a lot of families out of long-haul holidays. Long-haul destinations have seen an overall drop in passenger numbers. At this year’s ITB, the world’s largest travel expo in Berlin, tourism ministers spoke out against air passenger duty, or APD.

“We think it is serious. We are being discriminated against these long-haul destinations.”

“Listen, we don’t have oil; we don’t have gold; we don’t have diamonds. It’s tourism.”

“Let’s be realistic. Why target on the airlines? It’s really not logical to suggest that the Caribbean should be punished greater than destinations that are far further away.”

The banding system has been one of the most contentious issues of APD because of the way the distances are measured from London to the capital city of the final destination. Let me give you an example, the Caribbean is just over 4,000 miles away from London and falls into Band C. Passengers pay more to fly to the region than they would if they flew to Los Angeles or even Hawaii. Even though LA is more than 5,000 miles away from London and Hawaii more than 7,000, passengers only pay Band B rates, because the capital of the United States is Washington DC. The government has vowed to look into any discrepancies, but it maintains that the tax provides crucial funding. A spokesperson from the HM Treasury said in a statement to cnn:”Revenue from this tax provides support to the UK’s public finances and deficit reduction plan. In the June budget 2010, the government committed to exploring changes to the aviation tax system. Any major changes will be subject to consultation with key stakeholders and relevant parties.”

One option that’s been talked about is having a per-plane tax instead of a per-passenger tax. The Dutch government, which introduced APD in 2008, abolished it a year later due to a drop in revenue. The tourism ministers at ITB Berlin warned that in the long term, APD could be detrimental as passengers cut back on flying, or find other routes that allow them to bypass the tax.

Ayesha Durgahee, cnn, London.