You can tell a lot about a government by what it taxes. From 1 April 2026, the Labour government quietly bumped up Air Passenger Duty again. Two extra pounds on every short-haul economy seat. Four extra pounds on every short-haul premium or business class seat. The Treasury didn't issue a press release. The BBC didn't lead the news. But every family booking a half-term flight to Spain, Italy or Greece is now paying that bit more — and over the year, it adds up.

The Drip-Drip-Drip of Stealth Taxation

This is how Labour governs. They don't have the courage to put income tax up openly. They know fiscal drag is squeezing working people through frozen thresholds. So they reach for the small, quiet rises — duties, fees, charges — that don't make the headlines but cumulatively cost families hundreds of pounds a year. Air Passenger Duty is the perfect example. It's branded as environmental. It's framed as something only "frequent flyers" pay. In reality, it's paid by the family of four going to see grandparents in Cyprus, the couple flying to Malaga for a week's break, the lad going to Berlin on a stag do.

Air Passenger Duty has been raised by Labour every year since they took office. The headline rate, the long-haul rate, the premium rate, the short-haul rate — all up, all quietly. Combined with the rise in council tax, the freeze on the personal allowance, the rise in employer National Insurance, the reduction in the dividend allowance and the various changes to inheritance tax, the average working family is now paying around £1,500 more per year in tax than they were two years ago. That is not a budget. That is a stealth assault on disposable income.

"It's Green" — No, It Isn't

The justification, when it's offered, is environmental. Aviation contributes to carbon emissions. Therefore taxing it must be good for the planet. Except none of the money raised goes to environmental projects. It goes into the general taxation pot. British APD is now the highest of any major Western European country. But UK aviation emissions, as a share of national emissions, are roughly the same as France's, where the equivalent tax is half ours. The tax isn't doing the environmental job it claims to. It's just doing the revenue job that all taxes do.

Meanwhile, the same government that lectures British families about flying is happily approving expansion at Heathrow, Luton and Gatwick. Net zero, you see, is a moral framework that applies most stringently to people who cannot afford to ignore it. The corporate jets keep flying. The minister flies to Dubai. The working family in Lancashire pays an extra £8 per holiday.

The Cost-of-Living Squeeze in Numbers

Let's put this in context. Inflation is back to between 2.6% and 3.4%. That's better than 2022's peak, but it's still above the Bank of England's 2% target. Wages are growing at roughly the same rate, which means real wage growth is roughly nil. Meanwhile the basket of essentials — food, energy, rent, transport — that cost £2,000 a month in 2021 now costs £2,450 to £2,500. That's an extra £5,400 to £6,000 per year just to stand still.

Add to that the council tax rise of around 5% across most authorities. The rise in employee National Insurance thresholds being frozen rather than uprated. The energy bill that, even after recent falls, is still significantly higher than 2021. The air passenger duty rise. Drip, drip, drip. There is no honest political universe in which Labour can claim working people are better off under their stewardship.

What Reform UK Would Do

Reform UK would freeze Air Passenger Duty at its current level and conduct a proper review of how British aviation tax compares with our European competitors. We would scrap the rise on short-haul economy in particular — the duty that hits families hardest, raises the least, and does the least environmental good. We would unfreeze the personal allowance and lift it to £20,000, taking five million low-paid workers out of income tax altogether. We would scrap the changes to inheritance tax that are forcing farmers to break up their land and small business owners to sell up. We would treat working people as people whose money belongs to them first and to the Treasury second.

The next time you hear a minister say a tax rise is "modest" or "necessary," check what's been added in the last twelve months. Then check what's been added in the last twelve years. The cumulative answer is simple: too much. And it's why the political ground is moving so fast under Labour's feet.