Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Building coalitition campaign Get Britain Building is has thrown its weight behind a new report produced by the Cut the VAT Coalition.
The report – The Opportunities and Costs of Cutting VAT: The effects of selected reductions in the rate of VAT on the labour element of housing repair, maintenance and improvement – identifies opportunities for the Government:
The report estimates that the cost of this to Government could be as little as £102m a year – equivalent to a quarter of the Car Scrappage Scheme; only twice the Boiler Scrappage Programme and a mere 0.01% of the resource so far committed to the bailing out the banks.
GBB has been campaigning for a cut in VAT to 5% on domestic works that include an element of ‘consequential improvements’ which deliver sustainability benefits. Such an initiative would not only generate activity in the domestic RMI environment, it would serve to improve the property asset base of the UK and assist the Government in meeting its challenging 2020 and 2050 carbon reduction commitments.
