When Michael O'Leary complains about airport taxes he is as credible as a lion embracing vegetarianism. The Ryanair boss was in flying form again last week, ranting and raving about the air travel tax which will come into effect at the end of the month and will add €10 to the cost of every flight leaving Ireland. "The €10 travel tax is without doubt the most stupid initiative of many stupid initiatives taken by this government in recent months," he said earlier in March. "You cannot stimulate tourism by taxing tourists. These travel taxes have already caused UK and Dutch air traffic to collapse. This will have a similar effect on Irish traffic, particularly to the regions."

O'Leary's immediate contribution to this decline in Irish traffic will be to axe four routes from Dublin and curtail several more. This will cost 50 jobs at Dublin airport, on top of another 200 losses that were announced recently. Another 100 will probably go when Ryanair cuts the frequency of some of its winter services. "We intend to drive down [passenger] traffic at Dublin airport until this government gets the message", O'Leary said last week.

O'Leary may well be right about the effect of the €10 tax, although, as it hasn't been introduced yet, his decision to lose people their jobs on the basis of its imagined effects seems mean-spirited and vindictive. He undoubtedly has a point about the "stupid initiatives" the government – apparently addicted to fundraising gimmicks like the pension levy and the medical card folly – has introduced in recent months. But his problem is that, as one of the great taxers in airline history, he has no credibility when it comes to denouncing others who are active in this area.

I use Ryanair a lot, and for good reasons. It flies to places other airlines aren't bothered about and it gets me there on time 90% of the time. I would prefer to pay for the decent food on a Ryanair plane than suffer the free slop I recently had to endure on an Aer Lingus flight to New York. I don't find O'Leary's cabin crew less friendly than on other airlines. I don't find them more friendly either.

It's a long time, however, since I booked a Ryanair flight because I thought that it was cheap, or the cheapest option. It's a long time since I bought into the guff about Ryanair being a low-fares airline. It isn't. It's a low fares, high tax airline which happily tops up government fees and charges with fees and charges of its own. O'Leary complains about stupid initiatives, but in recent years, he has proven himself to be far more creative in the black art of screwing consumers than any government or airport authority you care to mention.

In recent years, Ryanair has introduced or announced charges for checking in at the airport, and now for checking in online. It has introduced charges for checking in bags. It has introduced credit card charges to book online, and has brought in a wheelchair levy, which applies to wheelchair users and non-wheelchair users alike. If you have the misfortune to have to ring the airline, it'll cost you much more than the local call rate. And the best of luck in getting through, by the way.

Many of these taxes are as unnecessary as the government charges O'Leary disdains, being ways to boost Ryanair profits while allowing the airline to claim that its fares are low. O'Leary berates Dublin Airport Authority for its high charges to airlines when the airport's maximum charge per journey is less than half of the €15 it costs to check in one bag on a Ryanair flight. This maximum charge, according to the Dublin Airport Authority, is less than 75% of Ryanair's per passenger credit card handling fee. It is only a little more than the €5.49 per passenger journey which Ryanair charges for insurance against terrorism attacks.

Michael O'Leary is entitled to introduce whatever charges he wishes. He knows his customers, and he knows what they will put up with. But he is not entitled to be taken seriously when he condemns governments and government agencies when they tax passengers. By exposing how lucrative a source of tax income aviation could be, he has encouraged cash-strapped politicians, not to mention other airlines, to drink from the same pool. Michael O'Leary is the king of the jungle when it comes to ridiculous taxes. Hear him roar, but don't allow him to dominate the debate.

ddoyle@tribune.ie