The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) has analysed emission estimates from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to find out how much people across the country should be paying to cover their carbon emissions.

The alliance found the population of Northampton should be paying £12.6million per year, but that in fact it is forking out £83.3million – £350 per person above what it should be.

The alliance calculated the tax cost by analysing the amount spent on petrol tax, road tax, green levies for electricity companies – which are then passed on to customers – and landfill tax.

Author of the report Matthew Sinclair, a policy analyst at the TPA, said: "People in Northampton are feeling the pinch of the credit crunch, so it's unfair that green taxes are set much higher than is necessary to pay for our carbon footprint.

"It's dishonest for the Government to wrap extra, unjustified taxes in a green banner when we can ill afford to pay."

Northamptonshire Friends of the Earth co-ordinator Alan Heath said green taxes should be used to cut CO2 emissions, not to raise extra revenue for the Government.

He said: "Green taxes should be linked to cuts in taxes on jobs and income, and on less carbon emitting alternatives.

"We should be able to choose whether we pay a green tax or not by either using less of a resource or switching to a greener alternative.

"A stamp duty rebate or council tax rebate, for example, could be offered to people who install energy efficiency measures in their homes.

"If green tax is not linked to such cuts it won't lead to reduced emissions and is not only grossly unfair but is also pointless."

A TPA spokesman said: "In 2007, the TPA's groundbreaking report, The Case Against Further Green Taxes, marked the start of the tide turning against green taxation, and was widely credited with preventing the Conservative Party adopting Zac Goldsmith's controversial green tax policy proposals.

"In the aftermath of the 2008 Budget, the TPA was the first organisation to flag up the proposed increase in vehicle excise duty as a costly threat. The latest report demonstrates just how much people are suffering under the green tax burden."