Brown attacked over renovations VAT

Brown attacked over renovations VAT

Shadow chancellor Matthew Taylor has demanded the scrapping of the 5% concessionary rate of VAT on the cost of renovations, to be replaced by the previous 17.5% rate.

In addition, the Liberal Democrat called for an increase in public expenditure to provide funds for social housing.

The shadow chancellor said: ‘These tax breaks for conversion services are a more expensive and a less effective option than building cheap housing.

‘Unlike social housing the homes created under this scheme do not help the most needy as they are not targeted towards people on low incomes.

‘These tax breaks further complicate our tax system without providing the required benefits. Promoting property renovation is one thing – doing it at a cost to the taxpayer rather than building a new home is quite another.’

Taylor was drawing on figures from the Social Housing Investment Project undertaken by Cambridge University for Shelter showing a cost of social housing per dwelling of Pounds 55,000 – 80,000.

Figures he drew from Budget 2001 documents showed the cost of reducing VAT per dwelling would be Pounds 115,000 or Pounds 115m per annum in total.

He added: ‘Wasting money that could be spent on housing the homeless or other social issues is simply irresponsible. It’s time for a rethink before Brown wastes any more taxpayers’ money.’

Links

AccountancyAge.com’stax page

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource