Public sceptical of green tax motives

Most members of the public believe ministers are using green taxes to rake in more money rather than protect the environment, according to new research.

A YouGov survey for the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) pressure group, released on Monday, found that nearly two-thirds of voters feel the levies are not designed to change behaviour.

Only one-fifth of respondents thought politicians were genuinely trying to protect the planet. In contrast, 63 per cent believed they were using the issue as an excuse to raise more money.

Nearly four-fifths were opposed to so-called 'pay-as-you-throw' schemes on waste floated by the government in order to encourage recycling.

Three-fifths also said fuel duty was an unfair tax and 45 per cent were against air passenger duty - doubled by Gordon Brown as chancellor in his pre-Budget report last year.

However opinion was more evenly split over approval in principle for extra green taxes, with 46 per cent saying they did not and 45 per cent saying they did.
 
The TPA said the public were right to be sceptical of the government's intentions.

It estimated that the social cost of carbon emissions would have cost £11.7bn to offset in 2005. However in the same year it took in £21.9bn in green taxes.

"Not only are they split on whether new green taxes are a good idea, but our research proves that politicians have been using green taxes as a revenue raising measure and are cynically trying to win support for new ones by exploiting concern about climate change," TPA chief executive Matthew Elliott said.

"We need more honesty about the costs of extra green taxes when British taxpayers already pay some of the highest pollution charges in the world."

The view was backed up by separate research from accountants UHY Hacker Young. It found that the Treasury gives back just two per cent of the money it raises through green taxes in tax breaks for good environmental behaviour.

The government now receives around £29.3bn in green taxes but hands back only £549m in incentives, the report said.

But while taxpayers may be as yet unwilling to stump up more cash for environmental protection, a further report found that three-quarters of the public are willing to pay higher income tax to fund better care for older people.

The Counsel and Care charity claims that a penny in the pound on income tax would raise the £2bn required to pay for 80 per cent of all care home and domiciliary care costs.