Elephantstrunk

From FT.com / World / UK - Brown to raise duty on 4×4s and air travel
A rise in air passenger duty is also expected to be announced in the wake of the Stern report on climate change, which called for urgent action to tackle global warming. The duty currently ranges from £5 for the shortest flights up to £40 for long-haul premium fares.

This really doesn’t make sense. Passenger duty is not linked to environmental damage. A Ryanair flight with seats close together and full occupancy is far better per passenger mile than a half empty flag carrier flight but under this scheme will be more heavily taxed. This will actually reduce the sensitivity of airlines to fuel prices. It’s neither Pigouvian nor market based. It’s just a tax.
Handing the wheel to a backseat driver might be fun but Brown has been as pusillanimous as Blair and the architect of some his government’s bigger messes. For all the political power available to him, he backed off taxing fuel for cars and won’t push for similar tax on aviation fuel.

[Edit: Even if taxing fuel is impractical, why tax the passenger and not the plane?]