Airline taxes 'will not hit poor'

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Taxes on no-frills airlines will not hit the poor because few of them use low-cost flights, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has said.

The "vast majority" of those using companies like Ryanair and Easyjet were well-paid workers or comfortably off pensioners, he told Sky News.

Lib Dems want to replace the tax on air tickets with one on airlines, based on each flight's greenhouse gas emissions.

Critics say this would make tickets more expensive.

'Substantial sums'

However, the Lib Dems say the scheme would be revenue-neutral.

Asked whether this would prevent the poor from flying, Sir Menzies said: "That's not true. I mean, the vast majority of people who use so-called cheap flights are people earning quite substantial sums of money - or people with quite substantial pensions.

We have to find a way of simplifying what it is we're going to ask people to do Sir Menzies Campbell

"It's not the poor people in this country who take cheap flights, you can argue."

The comments follow last week's row between Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary and aviation minister Ian Pearson, who accused the airline of being "the irresponsible face of capitalism".

Prime Minister Tony Blair has also faced criticism refusing to give up his own long-haul holiday flights, although he did agree to "offset" the carbon emissions.

Sir Menzies was challenged over plans to increase duty on four-wheel-drive vehicles to as much as £2,000 a year, while making low-carbon cars tax-free.

He denied this was "an unfair tax burden", adding: "Now we've got to find proper public transport. We've got to create inducements for people, not punishments to encourage them to use public transport when it's available.

Sir Menzies said the threat of global warming should be in the national curriculum to improve understanding of the problem.

He added: "We have to find a way of simplifying what it is we're going to ask people to do.

"It seems to me essential to persuade people that it doesn't have to be austere, you don't have to wear a hair shirt, it doesn't have to be complicated, it doesn't have to cost any more and it doesn't have to be any more inconvenient."