Bruce Golding seeks justice over UK tax
Published:Tuesday | January 18, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Prime Minister Bruce Golding says he will not rest until justice is secured in the matter of the United Kingdom-imposed Air Passenger Duty (APD).
The "regressive" tax, which was increased by the UK government November last year, has earned the ire of the Jamaican prime minister who has tagged it "manifestly unjust".
In scathing but "respectful" remarks, Golding, while addressing delegates at the opening of Caribbean Marketplace at the Montego Bay Convention Centre Sunday night, said: "We have worked hard to impress upon the British government that it is not fair, that it needs to be reviewed. Several of us have made the journey to London to speak with the government there."
Having sought advice widely, the Golding administration said the region had other options than going to London and pleading. He said the Caribbean may have to consider these options in tackling something that "is not just unfair and unjust, but is in conflict with established global rules of tourism".
The prime minister's comments come months after Cheapflights Media, an international media network providing users with ways to find low-cost travel, reported that annual online searches for popular island destinations Jamaica and Barbados had fall-offs of 13.2 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively.
The search engine blamed the reduction in traffic on the "regressive" Air Passenger Duty, which was further increased by the UK government on November 1.
Introduced in 1994 as a 'Green Tax', levied until February 2007, APD will have risen 275 per cent above pre-2007 rates for all cabin classes to the Caribbean.