It pays to go green.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Wednesday released data on how much tax revenue the Irish government is taking in through environmental taxes.
Last year, the Irish public paid
€5.2billion in environmental taxes. The figure represents the highest level of environmental tax revenue yet recorded.
According to the CSO, "Energy taxes (mainly taxes on transport fuels) accounted for 62% of total environment taxes in 2017 with another 37% coming from Transport taxes (including motor tax and vehicle registration tax)."
"Energy taxes increased from €2.3 billion in 2007 to €3.2 billion in 2017. Energy taxes as a percentage of total environment taxes increased from 46.7% in 2007 to 62.0% in 2017 with the combined Carbon tax and the Public Service Obligation levy accounting for 25.7% of energy taxes in 2017.
"Carbon credits, that is energy taxes accruing on foot of permits surrendered under the Emissions Trading Scheme, came to €11 million in 2017. In certain earlier years permits were issued by Government without obligation, accordingly when surrendered, a deduction equal to the value of the permit is recorded in the Environment taxes."
The government brought in
€17 million through the plastic bag levy alone.
Regulation (EU) 691/2011 defines an environmental tax as "A tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment."
The full report can be accessed
here.
