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Environment Taxes 2021

Key Findings

Pollution and Resource taxes were 0.3% of total Environment taxes in 2021

Online ISSN: 2009-7956

CSO statistical release, 12 July 2022, 11am

COVID-19 Release Information

This release was compiled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Environment taxes paid in 2021 have been adversely impacted by the pandemic particularly in respect of transport fuels.

Key Findings

A total of €4.8 billion of environment related taxes were collected in 2021.
Energy taxes, which include transport fuels, accounted for 64% of all environment related taxes in 2021.
Transport taxes (including motor tax and vehicle registration tax) accounted for 36% of all environment related taxes in 2021.
Pollution and Resource taxes accounted for 0.3% of Environment taxes in 2021.

Statistician's Comment

Commenting on the release Gerard Keogh, Statistician in the Environment and Climate Division, said: "Environment taxes were €4.2 billion in 2012 and rose to €5.2 billion in 2017, before falling to €4.5 billion in 2020 on foot of the COVID-19 pandemic (see Table 1). In 2021 environment taxes rebounded to €4.8 billion. As a percentage of total taxes, environment taxes were 9% in 2012, while in 2021 they accounted for 6% of total taxes.

Energy taxes in 2021 were €3.1 billion. Taxes on transport fuels (hydrocarbon oils) accounted for 63% of energy taxes while the combined Carbon tax, Carbon credits and the PSO levy accounted for 33% of energy taxes. Carbon tax increased by 31% to €659 million in 2021.

Transport taxes (mainly vehicle registration and motor taxes) were €1.7 billion with vehicle registration tax accounting for 44% of transport taxes.

Pollution and resource taxes were €13 million in 2021.

In 2012 estimated environment taxes levied on households were €2.8 billion (see Table 2), representing a 66% share of total environment taxes. In 2021 household environment taxes stood at €2.8 billion and represent a 58% share of total environment taxes.

Environment taxes levied on service industries were €1.4 billion in 2021, representing a 28% share of total environment taxes.

Environment taxes levied on industry in 2021 were €0.6 billion, representing a 12% share of total environment taxes.

Environment taxes levied on agriculture were €0.07 billion in 2021 and represented a 1.4% share of total environment taxes.”

An environment tax is defined by Regulation (EU) 691/2011 as:
"A tax whose tax base is a physical unit of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified in the European System of Accounts as a tax."

Tables and Graphs

X-axis label	Energy	Transport	Pollution and Resource
2012	2.634405171	1.472087	0.066949771
2013	2.72134076559478	1.664159	0.059366
2014	2.84019627	1.796148849	0.04756638892
2015	3.042883324	1.887141805	0.04722388498
2016	3.13525459166667	1.923950277	0.058281045
2017	3.25800358066667	1.928806368	0.045558533
2018	3.17604088633333	1.917106777	0.026156058
2019	3.015239845	1.986746811	0.018329675
2020	2.76786278166667	1.708169269	0.01092272679
2021	3.04910625166667	1.722723197	0.013175452

X-axis label	Agriculture	Industry	Services	Households
2012	0.0549452636278401	0.431418055921997	0.931607755025322	2.75547086742484
2013	0.0576487054411552	0.477549879602002	1.07474708631347	2.83492009423815
2014	0.0573471777736696	0.486857533594682	1.14489350948938	2.99481328706227
2015	0.0808931259003638	0.503705673886199	1.24837762983377	3.14426258435967
2016	0.0736845719845467	0.553649328924308	1.33713167777289	3.15302033498493
2017	0.0765137760738792	0.583717246927705	1.46158470600955	3.11055275265553
2018	0.07372101396919	0.615962513550888	1.45335223861642	2.97626795519684
2019	0.0734249180295955	0.615723538793442	1.40623505702333	2.92493281715363
2020	0.0625387572488983	0.535068056896042	1.24251720792784	2.64683075538388
2021	0.0677622334610668	0.584023416051965	1.35913906335364	2.7740801878

Table 1 Environment Taxes by Tax type, 2012-2021

Table 2 Environment Taxes by NACE Sector of Payee, 2012-2021

Table 3 Energy Taxes by NACE Sector of Payee, 2012-2021

Table 4 Transport Taxes by NACE Sector of Payee, 2012-2021

Table 5 Pollution and Resource Taxes by NACE Sector of Payee, 2012-2021

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Table 1 Environment Taxes by Tax type, 2012-2021
€m
Tax	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021¹
Total	4,173	4,445	4,684	4,977	5,117	5,232	5,119	5,020	4,487	4,785
Annual % change	-0.7%	6.5%	5.4%	6.3%	2.8%	2.2%	-2.2%	-1.9%	-10.6%	6.6%
% of total taxes	8.7%	8.9%	8.6%	8.4%	8.2%	7.9%	7.1%	6.5%	6.2%	5.5%

Energy taxes	2,634	2,721	2,840	3,043	3,135	3,258	3,176	3,015	2,768	3,049
Duty on light hydrocarbon oil products	911	854	810	771	725	679	596	568	424	450
Duty on other hydrocarbon oil products	1,124	1,182	1,234	1,350	1,454	1,554	1,559	1,597	1,381	1,477
Electricity tax	7	6	6	4	5	4	3	2	2	5
National Oil Reserves Agency levy	123	124	121	130	132	130	134	133	121	121
Carbon tax	363	387	386	419	434	435	430	435	503	659
Carbon credits	5	17	42	36	44	43	49	79	107	107
Public Service Obligation levy	102	151	242	333	342	412	406	201	231	231

Transport taxes	1,472	1,664	1,796	1,887	1,924	1,929	1,917	1,987	1,708	1,723
Vehicle registration tax	384	459	572	702	814	850	872	950	717	763
Air travel tax	34	34	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
National Car Test (NCT) Levy	0	21	34	40	38	37	37	47	32	32
Motor tax (business)	264	284	290	281	263	255	245	241	235	227
Motor tax (households)	781	853	869	843	789	766	736	723	705	681
Vehicle and driving licence expenses	10	13	20	20	20	21	26	26	20	20

Pollution and Resource taxes	67	59	48	47	58	46	26	18	11	13
Plastic bag levy	14	15	13	12	9	7	6	5	4	4
Landfill levy	52	43	34	34	48	37	19	12	7	8
Fisheries protection	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
¹Provisional

Table 5 Pollution and Resource Taxes by NACE Sector of Payee, 2012-2021
€m
NACE Rev. 2	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Total pollution and resource taxes	67	59	48	47	58	46	26	18	11	13
Annual % change	5.7%	-11.3%	-19.9%	-0.7%	23.4%	-21.8%	-42.6%	-29.9%	-40.4%	20.6%

Agriculture, forestry and fishing (01-03)	1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0

Industry (05-43)	9	8	7	7	8	6	2	1	0	0
Mining and quarrying (05-09)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Food, beverages and tobacco (10-12)	2	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Textiles and pharmaceuticals (13-21)	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Plastic and non-metallic minerals (22-23)	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
Metals, machinery and equipment (24-33)	3	3	2	3	3	2	0	0	0	0
Electricity and gas (35)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Water and waste (36-39)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Construction (41-43)	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	0	0	0

Services (45-96)	9	11	9	9	13	8	9	7	4	4
Wholesale and retail trade (45-47)	1	2	2	1	1	1	3	2	1	2
Transport, postal and warehousing (49-53)	2	2	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Accommodation and food (55-56)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Information and computing (62-63)	0	1	1	2	4	1	0	0	0	0
Rental and leasing (77)	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0
Public administration (84)	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	2	2
Other (58-61, 64-66, 68-75, 78-82, 85-88, 90-96)	5	5	4	4	5	5	3	1	1	1

Households and non-residents	48	40	31	30	37	32	15	11	7	8

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Environment Taxes 2021

Key Findings

Pollution and Resource taxes were 0.3% of total Environment taxes in 2021

COVID-19 Release Information

Key Findings

Statistician's Comment

Tables and Graphs

Contents

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