LOW VAT RATES
July 1st, 2003
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to scrap the experiment allowing shoe and leather repairers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to charge lower rates to their customers. Its aim was to promote labour intensive industries such as shoe repairing, but following an analysis of the pilot project, the Commission has concluded that "the reduced rate had very little, if any, impact on prices or job creation." It added: "A reduction in VAT rates would therefore seem to be a waste of budget resources which could be deployed more usefully."
THE EUROPEAN Commission wants to scrap the experiment allowing shoe and leather repairers in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands to charge lower rates to their customers. Its aim was to promote labour intensive industries such as shoe repairing, but following an analysis of the pilot project, the Commission has concluded that "the reduced rate had very little, if any, impact on prices or job creation." It added: "A reduction in VAT rates would therefore seem to be a waste of budget resources which could be deployed more usefully."
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