David Cameron, leader of the Conservatives, has set out his party's plans for aviation taxes, describing the current system as "crazy".
Speaking to BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Cameron said that the Conservatives would approach the issue in a "sensible way" by taxing flights on the pollution they are responsible for.
He criticised the current air passenger duty system for having no relevance in terms of the levels of carbon dioxide that flights emit.
"At the moment, in Gordon Brown's system, an empty aeroplane pays virtually no tax but a packed plane pays lots of taxes, yet both planes are responsible for the same pollution so that's crazy," Mr Cameron said.
"We're going to change that and have a flight tax, what we call an airline pollution duty, and we will tax the individual flight."
The Conservative leader confirmed that previous proposals to place VAT on domestic flights and give passengers an 'allowance' of one flight before they start paying taxes will be scrapped.
He also claimed that the new plans had received support from easyJet, one of the airlines that criticised the Tory party when it published its review on environmental policies earlier this month.
Speaking to BBC One's Andrew Marr Show, Mr Cameron said that the Conservatives would approach the issue in a "sensible way" by taxing flights on the pollution they are responsible for.
He criticised the current air passenger duty system for having no relevance in terms of the levels of carbon dioxide that flights emit.
"At the moment, in Gordon Brown's system, an empty aeroplane pays virtually no tax but a packed plane pays lots of taxes, yet both planes are responsible for the same pollution so that's crazy," Mr Cameron said.
"We're going to change that and have a flight tax, what we call an airline pollution duty, and we will tax the individual flight."
The Conservative leader confirmed that previous proposals to place VAT on domestic flights and give passengers an 'allowance' of one flight before they start paying taxes will be scrapped.
He also claimed that the new plans had received support from easyJet, one of the airlines that criticised the Tory party when it published its review on environmental policies earlier this month.
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The News Team
(Tony Hill and Helen Gillilan)
Tories Plan 'sensible' Taxes
