The majority of businesses are opposed to ‘green taxes’ if it involves them paying more tax, a new survey has found.
Grant Thornton, the business and financial advisors, found that 80% of UK businesses and 82% of the British public don’t think they should pay more taxes as a result of environmental concern.
Cynicism about the motives of politicians is partly to blame as 50% of businesses and 58% of the public think the government would use the new taxes purely to raise revenue rather than invest in environmental projects.
Francesca Lagerberg, tax partner at Grant Thornton, said: “The government currently collects an estimated £32bn from taxes it justifies as being in place to help improve environmental behaviour.
“Not surprisingly, neither people nor business want to pay any more tax than they need to.
“However, there is support for green taxes if the revenue generated is not seen to end up in a main 'pot' but to directly benefit environmental measures.
“What our survey also shows is that if a tax is recognised as having a positive impact on behavioural change, there tends to be stronger backing for such measures - support for the green agenda hangs on getting people on side by demonstrating that their hard-earned cash is directly benefiting the environment.”
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