Green Tax Revenue Falls To 13-Year Low

Thu, 06 Dec 2007

Green tax revenue has slumped to its lowest point in 13 years – from 7.7 per cent in 2006 to 7.3 per cent of total tax revenue in 2007, new figures have revealed.

The new data disclosed by the Office for National Statistics, which includes air passenger duty and fuel taxes for the year, comes as disappointment for the government which earlier in the year pledged its commitment to the green agenda.

The figures also revealed the drop in green tax had occurred for the last four successive years due to government plans to extract more cash from alternative taxes .

In contrast, environmental taxes made up a record 9.4 per cent of total revenue in 1997 - when Labour first came into power.

Simon Bullock, of Friends of the Earth said the government had again failed to deliver on its repeated promise to shift taxes off people and on to pollution .

"Increasing taxes on fossil fuels is an essential weapon in the Government's armoury for tackling climate change, and if Alistair Darling used these extra taxes to cut those on people and jobs, it would be extremely popular too," he said.
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