The Brown Green Record: Green Taxes Hit 25 Year Low

Green taxes have fallen for the seventh successive year and are now at their lowest level of GDP for a quarter of a century, official figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show.

Green taxes - which include fuel duty, landfill tax, hydrocarbon duty, air passenger duty and others - took just 2.7 per cent of national income in 2006 compared with a peak of 3.6 per cent in 1999. This is the lowest level since 1981 under Mrs Thatcher's Government.

The Liberal Democrats are proposing a major switch to using green taxes to make the polluter pay, using the revenue to cut income tax. The proposals would make Britain an international leader in tackling climate change, making the country carbon neutral by 2050.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Environment Secretary, Chris Huhne MP said:

"Ever since the fuel duty protests in 2000, Gordon Brown has run scared of any tough decisions on the environment. Mr Brown has cut green taxes by a fifth even though they are crucial to changing our behaviour.

"He has cut flood defence and climate research budgets. He vetoed the plan to toll road freight, and he ditched the legal requirements on big companies to report their environmental impact in operating and financial reviews.

"Now he has even downgraded the cabinet committee on the environment, which will now only be a sub-committee of the economic committee chaired by the Chancellor.

"Sadly, all the evidence is that Mr Brown is not green and does not understand the key threat posed by climate chaos. Polluters must pay, we must shift tax from people and on to pollution."