Darling targets jet set with plane tax
A TAX on private jets favoured by tycoons and film stars is to be introduced by Alistair Darling, the chancellor, in a move condemned by critics as another stealth tax.
It could impose a levy of more than £1,000 for each long-haul trip, such as a flight across the Atlantic.
At the moment owners of private planes – such as Lord Ashcroft, the Tory peer, or Sir Philip Green, the Topshop boss – pay fuel tax but avoid the tax levied on passengers on scheduled flights.
The government plans to switch the tax from passengers to planes by November next year to raise £2.5 billion annually and hit airlines that regularly fly empty planes in and out of the UK to retain landing slots.
It plans to target private planes at the same time as it makes the switch. The new “Learjet tax” was hidden in a consultation document on aviation duty issued by the Treasury earlier this year.
Even transport policy experts said it had been “hidden amongst the detail”.
Simon Cowell, the pop impresario who owns a Learjet, will have to pay the tax every time he crosses the Atlantic to appear in Britain’s Got Talent or American Idol.
The new tax will depend on flight length and the plane’s emitted pollutants.
News of the tax emerged days after it was revealed 5m motorists face a “hidden” rise in their road tax because their cars, some seven years old, are considered “gas guzzlers”.
The TaxPayers’ Alliance accused the government of providing further disincentives for businessmen to come to Britain.