The state’s take from environment-related taxes fell by 10% in 2020 compared with the previous year, mostly due to the effect of Covid measures on consumption of fuel in transport and a sharp fall in vehicle registration tax.
Energy taxes accounted for 62% of total environment taxes in 2020, with another 38% coming from transport taxes including motor tax and vehicle registration tax, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The combination of carbon tax, carbon credits and the PSO levy accounted for 30.2% of energy taxes, with the take from carbon tax rising from €435m in 2019 to €503m in 2020. In 2011, the take from this tax came to just €301m.
In 2011 estimated environment taxes levied on households came to €2.7 billion, representing a 65% share of total environment taxes. Household environment taxes rose to €3.1 billion in 2015, but by 2020 fell back to €2.5 billion — a 54% share of total environment taxes.
The total collected in 2020 from all sectors was €4.5 billion, down from the high point of €5.2 billion in 2017.
In Association with
Industry paid €500m in these taxes in 2020, 11.7% of the total, with services contributing €1.5 billion (32.5%) and agriculture a mere €6m or 1.4%.
