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Ian Hudghton,
on behalf of the
Verts/ALE Group
. – Mr President, on the subject of reduced
rates of VAT for labour-intensive services, it is almost a year since
Parliament approved a report, for which I was rapporteur, that
overwhelmingly supported the principle that all Member States should have
the right to implement the scheme. It is disappointing to see that no
progress has been made in the past year.
I stated at the time that we
should, of course, have equality amongst the Member States, but also that
we should be pressing the Council to make this principle a permanent
feature of our hopes of achieving the Lisbon Strategy. I accept that it
can be difficult to quantify the positive benefits in terms of job
creation, but I am also convinced that suddenly reapplying VAT to
labour-intensive services will have a negative impact.
I know from personal experience in a small business in the
construction sector that having to charge VAT at the full rate has an
impact on consumer choice. In a significant number of cases consumers
choose to go where VAT is not applied. This resolution, which all the
groups have supported and which will be voted on today, is reasonable.
This is the least we can expect from the Council if we are not to see a
sudden shock being triggered by the end of this scheme, in which I would
hope Member States can be encouraged to participate more fully so that we
can build up data on the beneficial impacts, which I am sure can be
quantified. |
