Every family in Britain is paying nearly £800 a year in a ‘dishonest’ green tax grab, which includes levies on fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, landfill tax, climate change levy and the renewables obligation, according to a taxpayer’s pressure group.

Hard-pressed households are forking out the staggering sum on flights, fuel and for their cars even though it is ‘unnecessary’, said the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), who claim that Britons pay £19.6billion a year too much in tax aimed at covering its carbon footprint.

They said it was ‘unjust’ on families who were being forced to tighten their belts as they struggled to pay the soaring cost of food, energy and home loans.

An analysis of official statistics found that the Government raked in £33billion in ‘green’ taxes in 2007-08 — up from £30.9billion the year earlier. The levies included fuel duty, vehicle excise duty, landfill tax, climate change levy and the renewables obligation, which is the cost to the taxpayer of power companies generating electricity from environmentally-friendly energy sources.

Subtracting the £8.8billion spent by the Department of Transport on roads last year gives a total burden of green taxes and charges of £24.2billion. But the social cost of the UK’s entire output of greenhouse gases which harm the environment was £4.6billion, according to estimates from the highly-respected Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

This suggested households in Britain were being forced to pay £19.6billion a year too much in levies on airline tickets, petrol and to run their cars. This works out at £783 per family. Even taking the Government’s estimate that the cost of greenhouse gas emissions was £16.3billion last year, this would mean green taxes were still £7.9billion — or £315 per household, which is too high, said the TPA.

Matthew Sinclair, the campaign group’s policy analyst, said: “Green taxes are set far higher than is necessary to pay for our carbon footprint, which loads an unfair burden onto hard pressed British families and businesses.”

“With the credit crunch squeezing household budgets, people can ill afford this extra tax grab. It’s dishonest and unjust for politicians to wrap revenue raising tax hikes in a green banner. The Government are talking about raising taxes even further, but our conclusions show that green taxes should be kept as they are or cut.”

He added: “Excessive green taxes hit poorer people hardest, hurt the competitiveness of British firms, cause Britain to export emissions and fall disproportionately on residents of rural and suburban areas.”

The TPA also said the so-called eco-tax burden also varies significantly between urban areas and the countryside. Using the IPCC estimate, campaigners said residents of the Essex town of Maldon felt the burden most heavily — paying £607 per person in excess green taxes. This was compared to just £62 each paid by residents of Camden in north London.