But travellers will hand £3bn tax to Treasury

THE Treasury will rake in more than £3.1billion in holiday tax this year – costing the average family £260 in charges for a US break, research shows.

Taxes on flights, clothes and insurance mean that the average holidaymaker pays £68.74 to the Treasury, says the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

A family of four, including two young children under 16, would pay £137.27 tax to take a holiday in Spain, and £261.27 for a break in Florida. An increase in the overall amount of tax taken this year was partly due to the number of holidays taken by air jumping 8.1 per cent on last year.

The TPA calculated last year that the Treasury took £2.4billion in holiday taxes – however, the way it is worked out has changed. John O’Connell, chief executive of the TPA, said: ‘We are calling on the Government to give Britons a break and scrap this unfair tax once and for all.’