"Passengers get small break on Canadian airport security tax"

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

Passengers get small break on airport security tax
BY BRUCE CAMPION-SMITH
Canada - The Toronto Star


OTTAWA-The federal government announced yesterday it's reducing the security
tax that it levies on air travellers.

The tax was introduced in 2002 to fund the operations of the Canadian Air
Transport Security Authority, the federal agency responsible for airport
security.

However, federal officials said yesterday that the fee, included in the cost
of all tickets, is expected to rake in $400 million this fiscal year, $25
million more than is needed to fund the operations of the security agency.

As a result, starting April 1, travellers will pay a $6 security tax on a
domestic one-way trip, down from $7; $10 on flights to the United States,
down from $12; and $20 on other international flights, down from $24. "The
new rates also provide for a balancing of revenue and expenditures over the
longer term," the budget says.

Last year's budget reduced the air tax sharply, to $14 for a domestic
round-trip, down from $24. 

The federal government has also asked the auditor-general to audit the
revenues and expenditures of the security system.

The airlines cheered the move.

"Canadians want cheap air travel. This is going to help," said Cliff Mackay,
president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, an umbrella group
representing the country's air carriers.


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