Builders claim cutting VAT on home repairs could give economy a £51bn boost
Cutting VAT on home repairs could give the economy a £51billion boost, builders have claimed.
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) are calling for a temporary cut from 20 per cent to 5 per cent.
Boost: The FMB and RICS are calling for a temporary cut from 20 per cent to 5 per cent
A five-year cut would increase the UK’s economic output by £51billion, and create 345,000 jobs in construction and related sectors, according to analysis commissioned from CBI Economics.
The FMB and RICS concede it would cost the Treasury £2.8billion less in tax receipts.
RICS’s Matthew Howell said: ‘If the Government is serious to build back better and help level up, we have to be bold and do things differently.
‘Cutting VAT on home improvements is exactly the sort of fiscal measure which will have a long and positive consequence for the economy.’