Air Passenger Duty and The Law Of Unintended Consequences

So George Osborne has admitted, via a leaked letter, that APD "is fundamentally a revenue raising duty and currently raises around £2.5 billion per year", despite being dressed up as an environmental measure designed to discourage air travel.

Well, there's a surprise. But just as the 50p tax rate may result in less revenue being raised, as the high earners turn their back on the UK, does it not occur to him that the APD levy may in fact be utterly counterproductive, as long haul flyers head for Schiphol and Frankfurt, regardless of the collateral damage to the UK economy that this brings?

Or is this more along the lines of a concealed environmental measure, where such wreckage to British industry is looked upon as a small price to pay for being seen to be doing something green?

SCRAP APD NOW, CHANCELLOR.