Report slams green taxes

Date: 29th August 2008

A new report has said that businesses and consumers in the UK are paying too much in green taxation.

The research from the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) suggested that the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change figures show that the UK is paying as much as £19.6 billion a year more than is necessary in green taxes.

According to the TPA, official government figures show that the UK is overpaying green taxes by as much as £7.9 billion.

For businesses, the report noted that the burden of green taxes was particularly acute.

It explained: "Companies that pay green taxes also pay corporation tax; and most green taxes are accompanied by VAT."

Matthew Sinclair, a policy analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance, concluded: "Green taxes are set far higher than is necessary to pay for our carbon footprint, which loads an unfair burden onto hard pressed British … businesses.

"With the credit crunch squeezing household budgets, people can ill afford this extra tax grab."