Irish households are paying the highest proportion of environmental tax in Europe, according to data released today by Eurostat.
According to the EU’s official statistics body, european households contributed 48.3 percent of the total environmental tax revenues in 2023, with Irish homes contributing the highest share at a national level of the 27 member states (60.3 percent).
Dutch households made the second highest contribution (57.5 percent) to their national total environmental tax revenues, followed by Slovenian and French households (approximately 55 percent each).
Environmental tax revenue in the EU amounted to €341.5 billion in 2023, compared with €334.6 billion in 2022, with Eurostat noting that the 2.1 percent increase equates to €6.9 billion.
“At the EU level in 2023, corporations generated most environmental tax revenues, accounting for 49.4% of the total,” Eurostat said in its release accompanying the stastistics.
The majority of the corporate contribution came from companies in manufacturing, construction, mining and utilities (23.6 percent), as well as those in the services sector (25.8 percent).
Meanwhile, corporations contributed on average half of the total tax revenues in most EU countries, with the highest shares in Czechia (81.2 percent), Estonia (80.3 percent) and Romania (79.1 percent).
Austria (33.6 percent), Luxembourg (34.9 percent) and Ireland (38.0 percent) recorded the lowest levels of corporate contribution in 2023.
Households contributed 48.3 percent of the total environmental tax revenues that year, with households in 15 EU countries paying over 40 percent of the total environmental tax revenue.
“Although in 2023 environmental tax revenues in the EU were nearly evenly split between households and corporations, national patterns vary significantly. Some countries like Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia and France rely heavily on household contributions (over 55%), while Romania, Estonia, Czechia and Bulgaria show a strong industrial tax contribution,” Eurostat said in analysis of the data.
“Luxembourg stands out with nearly half (48.7%) of its environmental tax revenue coming from non-residents, likely due to cross-border fuel sales. In contrast, countries such as Germany and Portugal display a more balanced distribution across payer groups. These variations reflect national economic structures, energy use, and policy choices affecting environmental taxation,” it said.