APD – greenwash government laughing all the way to the bank

The issue is becoming a joke worthy of "Yes Minister" says green campainer Geoffrey Lipman

In a recent article Geoffrey Lipman satirized the UK government tax in the style of the famous political comedy where the cynical side of government is shown in its full glory.

It is sad that a tax that could have done so much is now relegated to a joke.

Introduced as a quasi green tax in 1994, it set out to reduce emissions by reducing the demand on emission-high flying and to tax airlines, which were seen as being under taxed.

Objections raised included the fact that the tax was never hypothecated (used for green initiatives), taxed all planes the same (even those that are more carbon-efficient). Moreover a whole-plane tax which would have benefitted more carbon-efficient loads never materialized.

The key objection was that the tax mitigated against low-income island developing area communities that got their main income from tourism.

"You can fool some of the people" by Professor Geoffrey Lipman

Minister: "Good morning Sir Humphrey"

Civil Servant: "Good Morning Minister"

Minister: "I was at another Travel Industry Awards bun-fest last night and got buttonholed again on the terrible impacts of our Airline Passenger Poll Tax."

Civil Servant: "Excuse me Minister you of course mean the Airport Passenger Duty… we don’t call it a tax and certainly not a poll tax. Your PR and Political advisors would not like that at all."

Minister: "Of course Humphrey…I know that but it’s just between us here…well I think these Caribbean chaps make a good point they are closer but pay a higher tax…I mean duty…than people flying much further away…can’t we do something about it. And it’s not only the Caribbean that persistent fellow from Asia jumped in after my speech making the same point….two or three times in fact."

Civil Servant: "Well Minister we do make billions of pounds a year for the Treasury coffers from this – and we’ve been doing it for 20 years. And as you know, our surveys show that this is really just a duty for people who can afford it and aren’t likely to take it into account when voting or of course foreign citizens who don’t vote here".

Minister: "I know all that Humphrey and the fact that we ran it as a green tax …. I mean duty….for more than ten years without spending any of the money on the environment."

Civil Servant: "Well Minister we dropped that designation when they caught us out …. I mean when we decided to follow EU norms on that matter….but I’m glad to say we still get to keep all the money for your bank bail out …I mean austerity program."

Minister: "Yes Humphrey we mustn’t affect that … but still couldn’t we do something that doesn’t affect our bottom line but responds to their concerns … I mean I’ve been hearing this same story for 3 years … and I can tell you it’s no fun meeting them on the social circuit."

Civil Servant: "Well Minister we could announce a plan to adjust the bands to hit everyone just as hard….I mean make the system fairer ….. and get rid of the alleged discrepancies. How does that sound?"

Minister: "Very good Humphrey .. and we still get to keep all the money ..no green funding, no special industry climate response stuff…what do the boffins call it – hypothecation. And we get to institutionalize our Airline Passenger Poll tax even more…oops. Airport Passenger Duty…when they all praise us for our fairness and vision."

Civil Servant: "Yes Minister."

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