Britain's Biggest Insurer Imposes 'Ash Tax' on Travellers

Britain's biggest insurer is to impose an 'ash tax' on travellers who fear their holidays may be cancelled.

Just a week before thousands of families jet off on breaks during the school half-term, Aviva has become the first firm to impose the levy.

Other big insurance companies are set to follow suit.

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UK Shoppers Could Face VAT on Food

The feasibility of introducing the food tax is being raised informally between civil servants, industry bodies and retail insiders.

So politically-sensitive is the move that all the talks are occurring "under the radar", according to retail industry insiders.

Basic supermarket groceries are currently immune from VAT, along with books, newspapers and children's clothes.

However a VAT levy on food of between three and five per cent would raise billions of pounds in tax and help reduce Government borrowings, which are expected to hit £180 billion this year.'

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EU Draws up Plans For First Direct Tax With Fuel Levy

Proposals expected to be announced next month would give the EU its first funding which would not come from national governments.

Algirdas Semeta, the new European commissioner for taxation, is planning a "minimum rate of tax on carbon" across the whole EU as a "priority".

"In my estimation it is possible to start discussions," he told European Voice, a weekly Brussels newspaper. "There is currently the right momentum."

A similar proposal was considered so controversial that it was shelved without discussion five years ago.

The plan to push for more financial independence from national governments comes as the EU attempts to build a more powerful position in the world.

Following the new Lisbon Treaty, the EU now has an expensive array of new institutions including a new President of Europe and a foreign minister with her own diplomatic service.

Hervé Jouanjean, Director General of the European Commission's Budget department, recently told a Brussels audience that the EU was "very close to paralysis" because of the reluctance of stretched national treasuries to give it funding.

"We should have a mechanism which would serve to exploit the possibility, in a progressive way, to lead to direct funding of the EU," he said.

Herman Van Rompuy, the new EU president, has already thrown his weight behind the idea of new taxes.

The new tax would lead to direct rises in petrol and energy bills and additional price increases due to higher costs for industry.

Open Europe, the think-tank, has calculated, on the basis of the shelved 2005 proposal that set a £9 levy on a tonne of CO2, that the cost of the new tax to British businesses and consumers would be £3.2 billion. The final cost could be even greater if electricity, generated from natural gas, was included in the levy.

Mats Persson, director of Open Europe, warned that "a single EU levy is an unnecessarily inflexible tool" that takes no account of existing national taxes or measures to cut climate change.

"A single flat rate will disproportionately hit poorer consumers who spend a larger share of their income on energy and fuel bills," he said. "It will also impose a disproportionate burden on small businesses, which are vital for economic recovery and growth. The EU needs a more flexible and proportionate approach to cutting carbon emissions."

France and Sweden are enthusiastic supporters of an EU carbon tax as a part of Europe's fight against climate change. While many countries have yet to take a position Britain has been a lone voice in opposition to the new Brussels tax.

"We do not support the idea of a mandatory pan-European carbon tax," said a British spokesman. "We believe that member states are best placed to choose the policy tools for achieving their climate-change objectives."

Under current European energy taxation law, the EU sets minimum tax rates for energy sources such as petrol, coal, and natural gas when they are used as motor and heating fuel or to produce electricity.

Under the current law, the tax to be paid is calculated according to the quantity of fuel that is consumed but the Commission wants this changed so that it is calculated according to CO2 emissions.

The idea of using fuel duties and eco-taxes to give the EU a direct and independent source of income has long been demanded by the Commission. Proposals currently circulating in Brussels could mean that all airline tickets, shopping and petrol station receipts in Britain list the amount of aviation tax, VAT or fuel duty that goes directly to Brussels as an "EU tax".

Details of the plan came as research by the AA has showed British drivers have been already been hit with higher tax rises on fuel, up to five times bigger than their counterparts in the rest of Western Europe since the end of the credit crunch.

Fuel duty and VAT on petrol has increased by 11.46 per cent since the end of November last year, compared with only 2.23 per cent in Austria. The UK rise is more than double the 5.07 per cent average for Western Europe as a whole.

Daily Telegraph

Your Retirement Plan Will Soon Become Washington's ATM Machine

Today over $15 trillion is sitting in tax-favored retirement plans, including $4 trillion in IRA accounts. Retirement savings make up 35% of all private assets. Washington is broke, the deficit is soaring and Congress simply can’t wait for Americans to retire so they can start taxing these funds. The politicians are tired of waiting; they need your money now.'

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Ryanair to Make Passengers Stand

The low-cost airline would charge passengers less on "bar stools" with seat belts around their waists.

Michael O'Leary, the chief executive, has already held talks with US plane manufacturer Boeing about designing an aircraft with standing room.


He is now seeking approval from the Irish Aviation Authority before ordering a new fleet of carriers, according to The Sun.

A Ryanair spokesman told the newspaper: "If they approve it, we'll be doing it."

Mr O'Leary is reported to have got the idea from the Chinese airline Spring, which has put forward similar plans. It estimates space could be made for up to 50 per cent more passengers and costs could be cut by 20 per cent.

It is not the first time Ryanair has come up with a controversial proposal for cutting costs. Earlier this year Mr O'Leary suggested passengers could be charged £1 to use the on-board lavatories.

In an interview on BBC television he said that the low-cost airline was looking at the possibility of installing a coin slot on the lavatory door so that "people might actually have to spend a pound to spend a penny."

Mr O'Leary also considered introducing a "fat tax" for overweight passengers.

Source

It's dead easy just don't fly Ryanair!

Buchanan: Climate Bill Is Transfer Of Wealth To World Government

During an appearance on MSNBC, political commentator Pat Buchanan correctly defined the “Climate Bill” for what it really is, not just a new tax on the American people, but a complete transfer of power and wealth to a global government that is using the manufactured fear of global warming to grease the skids for total domination.

Referring to the passage of the climate bill and global warming in general, Buchanan said that the legislation was passed through the use of fear and that, “More and more scientists are coming forward to say this is a hoax and a scam which is designed to transfer wealth and power from the private sector to the government sector and from the government of the United States to a world government. Which is what we’re going to get in Copenhagen when we get this Kyoto two agreement.”

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Levy on International Air Travel Could Fund Climate Change Fight

Britain and other rich countries will be asked to accept a compulsory levy on international flight tickets and shipping fuel to raise billions of dollars to help the world's poorest countries adapt to combat climate change.

The suggestions come at the start of the second week in the latest round of UN climate talks in Bonn, where 192 countries are starting to negotiate a global agreement to limit and then reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The issue of funding for adaptation is critical to success but the hardest to agree.

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Shows what it is all about!