The EU’s environmental taxes are an average 26% higher than Brexit Britain’s

We may not like them, but at least these Net Zero taxes are lower in the UK than in the EU

Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023

Brexit Facts4EU reveals how much we’re paying for Net Zero, compared to the EU

Last week the Office for National Statistics released its latest data for ‘environmental’ (Net Zero) taxes in the UK. The total raised was a staggering £47.4 billion in the UK in 2022, up 6.9% from the previous year.

With the total likely to hit £50bn this year, Brexiteers can at least comfort themselves with the knowledge that we’re paying considerably less than in the average EU27 country.

Nevertheless, it is still the case that senior MPs such as the Rt Hon Sir John Redwood MP has been unable to get any impact assessment from the Government on the cost of all the measures we outline below.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

Environmental (or ‘Net Zero’) taxes in the United Kingdom

Environmental taxes, using an internationally agreed framework, raised £47.4 billion in the UK in 2022, up 6.9% from the previous year
Environmental tax revenue was 1.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022
Environmental taxes provided 5.3% of all UK tax and social contribution revenue in 2022
Average environmental taxes paid by households in the UK was £575 per household in 2020
Energy tax revenue comprised 74.7% of all UK environmental tax revenue in 2022, followed by transport (22.3%), and pollution and resource (3.0%) taxes
Fuel Duty remains the largest energy tax, comprising around 70% of energy taxes in 2022
The Plastics Packaging Tax raised £207 million, 15% of pollution and resources taxes
In 2020, the Electricity and Gas sector overtook the Transportation and Storage sector as being the largest environmental tax revenue industry contributor

[Source: Office for National Statistics.]

How does the UK compare with the EU?

The Office for National Statistics says :

“Environmental tax revenue for the UK as a percentage of GDP is low compared with EU countries.”

They are correct. Using the OECD’s data from 2021, (the latest available), it is possible to compare the UK with the EU27, looking at the proportion of GDP represented by these taxes. The EU27 average in 2021 was 2.4%. This is 26% higher, proportionately, than the UK’s 1.9% in 2022.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The UK’s and the EU27’s environmental taxes, as a proportion of GDP

EU27 average: 2.4%
United Kingdom : 1.9%

[Sources: Office for National Statistics, OECD.]

The energy sector has been worst hit - almost 5-fold tax increase

When looking at the sectors that have been worst hit by environmental taxes it probably will not surprise readers to learn that the energy sector has been worst hit.

Below we show the extraordinary surge in ‘Net Zero’ style taxes on electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply. This sector is now the largest contributing industry to environmental tax revenue and of course it is the public who ultimately pay the price. In the UK in 2022, taxes on hydrocarbon oils (Fuel Duty) remained the largest contributor to revenue from energy taxes (around 70%).

Brexit Facts4EU.Org Summary

The massive rise in environmental taxes on the energy sector in 10 years

2011 : £1.56bn
2020 : £7.57bn - an increase of 4.8 times in just 10 years

[Source: Office for National Statistics.]

As the ONS says :

“Certain applicable tax rates to this sector, such as the Climate Change Levy, have also increased over time.”

The list of ‘environmental taxes’ keeps on growing

Here is the current list of the major areas of taxation in regard to Net Zero :-

Taxes on hydrocarbon oils (or Fuel Duty)
Paid on motor and heating fuels produced, imported or used in the UK.

Climate Change Levy
This is a tax on non-domestic use of energy, introduced in April 2001. Carbon Price Floor taxes were introduced from 1 April 2013.

Renewable Energy Obligations
Introduced in 2002 to provide incentives for the deployment of large-scale renewable electricity in the UK.

Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS and UK-ETS)
EU-ETS is a multi-country, multi-sector greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme introduced by the EU. It applied from 2009. From 01 January 2021 the UK Emissions Trading Scheme replaced this.

Air Passenger Duty
From 1995 a duty on the carriage from a UK airport of chargeable passengers on chargeable aircraft. The amount due is dependent on the final destination and class of travel of the chargeable passenger.

Rail franchise premia
The process of rail franchising was first introduced by the Railways Act 1993. The first franchises came into effect in 1996.

Plastic Packaging Tax
Introduced in 2022, this tax is intended to encourage the use of recycled plastic. It applies to the manufacture or import of plastic packaging components or packaged goods that does not contain at least 30% recycled plastic.

Observations

We may not like the idea of enviroment taxes costing nearly £50 billion but at least these taxes are a lot lower in the UK than in the EU. The cost to each UK household in 2020 (the last data available) was an average of £575.

When it comes to energy taxes, of course Fuel Duty is one of the most hated of them all. Our research shows that they comprised around 70% of all energy taxes in the UK last year.

We must get reports like this out there

Reports like the one above take far longer to research, write and produce than many people realise. If they were easy, readers would see other organisations also producing these daily. However, there’s little point in the Facts4EU.Org team working long hours, seven days-a-week, if we lack the resources to promote them effectively – to the public, to MPs, and to the media. This is where you come in, dear reader.

Facts4EU.Org needs you today

We are a 'not for profit' team (we make a loss) and any payment goes towards the actual work, not plush London offices, lunch or taxi expenses, or other luxuries of some organisations.

We badly need more of our thousands of readers to become members, to support this work. Could this be you, today? It's quick and easy, we give you a choice of two highly secure payment providers, and we do NOT ask you for further support if you pay once. We just hope you keep supporting us. Your membership stays anonymous unless you tell us otherwise.

Please don't assume that other people will keep us going - we don't receive enough to survive and we need your help today. Could you help us? We rely 100% on public contributions from readers like you.

If you believe in a fully-free, independent, and sovereign United Kingdom, please join now by clicking on one of the links below or you can use our Support page here. You will receive a personal, friendly ‘thank you’ from a member of our team within 24 hours. Thank you.

[ Sources: Office for National Statistics | OECD ] Politicians and journalists can contact us for details, as ever.

Brexit Facts4EU.Org, Sat 13 May 2023

Click here to go to our news headlines

Please scroll down to COMMENT on the above article.
And don't forget to actually post your message after you have previewed it!

Something to say about this? Scroll down for reader comments

Since before the EU Referendum, Brexit Facts4EU.Org
has been the most prolific researcher and publisher of Brexit facts in the world.

Supported by MPs, MEPs, & other groups, our work has impact.

We think facts matter. Please donate today, so that we can continue to ensure a clean Brexit is finally delivered.

Any credit card user

Quick One-off

From £5 - £1,000

Monthly

From £3 per month

Paypal Users Only - Choose amount first

Quick One-off

Monthly

PLEASE NOTE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO COMMENT : You can write your comment under any existing comments below. After you have clicked to preview your comment, you MUST then click on the CAPTCHA system and send you comment, for it to be published. Thank you!

Reader Comments 5

1. Old Albion , Saturday, May 13, 2023, 07:19:

All in the name of CO2. A gas making up 0.045% of the Earths atmosphere, to which the UK contributes 1%-2%. Madness.

2. Andrew , Saturday, May 13, 2023, 08:39:

They're certainly still ripping us off in the UK.
Current wholesale price of natural gas is 76p/therm but domestic gas users are being charged 15p/kWh or £4.39/therm (1thm = 29.3 kW/h). Almost 5 times the wholesale gas price.

3. LuxuryBalloon , Saturday, May 13, 2023, 13:20:

I suppose the devil is in the detail as EU counties tax the heavy polluting industries more while the UK taxes it’s citizens instead.

4. Halifax.Hampson , Saturday, May 13, 2023, 15:46:

I posted this years ago but I think it is still of interest.
"In 2016 a report into why TATA intended closing Port Talbot and moving jobs to the Netherlands and was submitted to Parliament, titled "Energy Costs and the Steel Sector:A UK Steel Briefing." This exposed CHEATING by EU countries as the "critical problem facing the UK steel industry." Data released by Eurostat revealed, quote,"UK's energy prices were 89% higher than the EU average and 97% higher than that of the EU15." EU states were simply failing to enforce the taxes payable under the EU's CO2 Climate Change regulations. It told Parliament, quote,"It is evident that high electricity costs in the UK have served to undermine the competitiveness of ..UK producers." Germany, like every EU state, protected it industries by CHEATING on EU rules on State Aid. Germany is simply failing to enforce the taxes payable under the EU's CO2 Climate Change regulations resulting in massive illegal hidden subsidies. The German system of CO2 tax exemptions results in almost 2,000 heavy energy consuming companies being let off about 5 billion euro of taxes EVERY YEAR. Contrast this with the UK where only 53 energy intensive companies have received exemptions totaling 160mn pounds over THREE years. German industry is being let off taxes totalling 5 billion euro EVERY single year. UK industries are being let off 0.053bn every year. Since Mrs Thatcher EVERY UK govt has failed to defend UK industry in the face of CHEATING by EVERY other EU member. All wanted to avoid offending Brussels."

5. Not4EU, London , Saturday, May 13, 2023, 17:28:

CO2 in the atmosphere 0.04%, of which 3% is declared as 'man-made' (97% is naturally occurring) = 0.0012%. The UK is 'responsible' for 1% of this, so 0.000012% is the maximum difference that the UK could make. Being 'kind', at best this is just a huge money-laundering scam, transferring the wealth of the poorest to the richest few. Of course, it's 'net' zero, as those flying around the world in private jets like to lecture that most will have to do without so 'others' can use more. It's no surprise that the EU exempted fuel for private jets from the 'eco-taxes' as are the King's Royal Estates.
An inconvenient fact is that this geological period (Quaternary) has the lowest average levels of CO2 in the history of the Earth & is getting dangerously low.
Of course below 150ppm, life on the planet dies, plant, animal & human. CO2 is plant food. Why else would food growers pump in CO2 to greenhouses to grow larger & greener food & other plants? It couldn't be part of a disturbing plan intended to restrict and control the food supply, creating an 'opportunity' for lab-engineered food, could it? What was that about the Dutch farmers & expropriation of farm land?
A good rule of thumb is that whenever anyone declares an issue 'global', requiring unelected supranational control, it's a scam.
Sadly, our treasonous Parliament & snivel serpents are as fully on board with the scam as their EU 'friends & allies'. Puppets all!

Add comment:

Please note: Your email address is never published unless you choose to enter it.