Declines in energy and transport tax meant New Zealand’s total environmental taxes fell by 21% to $5.2 billion in the twelve months to March 2023, according to Statistics NZ.
Stats NZ released the environmental-economic accounts for the 2022-2023 financial period on Thursday which show how NZ’s environment contributes to the economy and the impacts of economic activity on the environment.
The data out of Stats NZ showed environmental taxes for the March 2022-2023 period came to $5.2 billion, $1.4 billion lower than in the March 2021–2022 period.
“Environmental taxes include the amount of energy, transport, pollution, and resource taxes paid to the Government for something that has a proven scientific negative impact on the environment,” Stats NZ said.
The total environmental tax figure of $5.2 billion, was made up mostly from transport at 51% and energy at 45%.
Stats NZ said in the March-2023 period, the energy tax base fell 34% or $1.2 billion and the transport tax base was down 10% or $290 million. However, the pollution tax base jumped 63% or $38 million.
Stats NZ attributed the environmental taxes decline in the March-2023 year being primarily from the $1.2 billion fall in the energy tax base.
A drop in taxes on greenhouse gases due to the implementation of an updated Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) taxes methodology contributed to the energy tax base fall, as did the removal of some taxes associated with the closure of the Marsden Point oil refinery, Stats NZ said.
“Taxes from the energy base comprised 45% of environmental tax taken during the year to March 2023, down from 54% during the previous year,” Stats NZ said.
Stats NZ said the asset value of all sources of renewable inputs to electricity generation fell by 17% or $2.8 billion to $13.7 billion in the March-2023 year.
In 2023, 69% of the asset value of renewables came from hydro generation, 21% from geothermal, 7.5% from wind, 1.1% from wood, 0.8% from solar, and 0.7% from biogas.
“Solar was the only generation type to show an asset value increase in the March 2023 year, up 1.2% on the previous year,” Stats NZ said.
The fall in transport base taxes was from taxes associated with vehicle and road use charges. Road user charges and petrol excise duty was reduced during the March-2023 year by the Labour Government at the time as a response to the higher cost of living.
Stats NZ said increases in taxes from the pollution base were from taxes associated with the waste disposal levy which raises revenue for initiatives that reduce waste.
On the up
Stats NZ said the marine economy contributed $4.6 billion to NZ’s gross domestic product (GDP) during the 2023 financial period.
This was an increase of 7.9% compared with the prior year when the marine economy contributed $4.2 billion.
The contribution of the marine economy to GDP in the March-2023 year came to 1.2%.
Shipping was the largest contributor to the marine economy at 52%, followed by fisheries and aquaculture at 24%.
Offshore minerals contributed 16%, marine services contributed 5.1% and marine tourism and recreation contributed 2.6%. Government and defence contributed just 0.3%.
Stats NZ said the number of wage and salary earners in the total marine economy rose by 582 to 39,237 in the March-2023 year.
When it came to central and local government expenditure on environmental protection, local government contributed 68% or $1.9 billion compared to central government which contributed 32% or $904 million.
Together, local and central government spent a total of $2.9 billion which was an increase of 15% from the prior year.
Stats NZ said this expenditure was spent on activities that prevented, reduced, and eliminated pollution as well as other forms of environmental degradation in NZ.
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