Households are paying more in "green taxes" than is justified by their level of carbon emissions, according to a new report.
The TaxPayers' Alliance campaign group said on Thursday that on average households are contributing £800 per year more to the Treasury's environmental tax take than they should.
It argues that, according to UN calculations, just £4.6bn of levies are needed to mitigate the effects of environmental damage.
In contrast the exchequer takes a net total of £24.2bn per year from duties including fuel tax, road tax, landfill tax and the climate change levy, after spending on roads has been subtracted.
Report author Matthew Sinclair said: "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."
However the Treasury strongly disputed the findings, arguing that road and fuel taxes should not be seen simply as green levies.
A spokesperson said: "The estimate of green taxes is wrong as it includes taxes used to fund core public services, rather than simply offsetting the cost of CO2.
"For example, while fuel duty recognises the environmental costs of driving, it also pays for important public services, including new roads and public transport and efforts to tackle child poverty."
And the Green Party also defended the principle of environmental taxation, while criticising the government.
"Tax should be about trying to change behaviour and not just about abstract revenue raising," principal speaker Caroline Lucas said.
"And taxes on activities that use fuel and resources are only effective if the government provides other options for people to switch to: for every fuel tax there should be real provision of public transport; and for every levy on household bills, insulation and other energy-saving measures should be provided.
"It's the government's fault that people have lost faith in green taxes. Their money goes into a black hole and they don't see the benefits."
Stakeholder Response: Campaign to Protect Rural England
Ben Stafford, head of campaigns at CPRE, told ePolitix.com: "The Taxpayers' Alliance's view that we should be reducing the green tax take is wrong and short-sighted, at a time when climate change presents an ever-increasing threat to our environment, landscapes and way of life.
"Granted, there is a grain of truth in what they say - green taxes that are simply used as revenue-raisers, rather than being spent on environmental policy goals or reduction of other taxes, undermine public support for this form of taxation.
"However, properly constructed green taxes can encourage behaviour change that will deliver environmental benefits, and therefore, medium- and long-term gains for people - including taxpayers - from all sections of society.
"Green taxes have been falling, rather than rising, for the last decade or so. Rather than trying to undermine them further, the Taxpayers' Alliance should perhaps try to join the consensus view of the main political parties which, in word if not always in deed, recognises the essential role of these taxes in shaping environmentally responsible behaviour."
