Environmental tax receipts rose to £38.5 billion in 2008, an increase of £0.6 billion (1.5 per cent) compared with the previous year and almost twice the amount collected in 1993.
Duty on hydrocarbon oils such as petrol and diesel makes by far the largest contribution to environmental taxes and accounted for 64.3 per cent of the total in 2008. Receipts increased by about £0.3 billion compared with the previous year. Revenues from the climate change levy, the only other energy tax, were broadly unchanged at approximately £0.7 billion.
After duty on hydrocarbon oils, the next largest increase was in Vehicle Excise Duty (‘road tax’) where receipts increased by £0.1 billion to £5.5 billion in 2008. Revenues from Air Passenger Duty were almost unchanged at £1.9 billion.
Revenue from landfill tax was £1.0 billion. The amount raised from the aggregates levy, the tax on quarrying or dredging of sand, gravel or rock, was £0.3 billion.
In 2008, environmental taxes were 2.7 per cent as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounted for 7.1 per cent of total taxes and social contributions.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Department for Energy and Climate Change
Notes: The interpretation and use of measures of environmental taxes need care. In particular, the levels of revenues from environmental taxes do not necessarily indicate the relative importance or the success of environmental policy. High environmental tax revenues can result either from high rates of taxes or from high levels of environmental problems (e.g. pollution) leading to a large tax base. The broad measure of revenues can also fail to capture the effect of the differential rates that encourage a shift away from higher impact behaviour such as the use of leaded petrol.
Environmental accounts provide data on the environmental impact of UK economic activity, on the use of resources from the environment in the economy, and on associated taxes and subsidies.
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Environmental Accounts