21.5 rate has crucified business houses, claim
A LIMERICK city business woman has accused the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, of driving consumers away from the home supplier at the very time he is appealing to all Irish people to protect the economy.
Sinead Tierney, proprietor of the Fashion House, who led a traders’ demonstration to seek a reduction in VAT rates,
to the UK rate, said that while Limerick businesses are recording a drop in trade of nearly 70 per cent from last year, they are convinced the situation could be improved by reducing the VAT rate.
Speaking outside Debenhams Store, where the business lobby gathered, she said that last October’s Budget increase of VAT had hit traders hard and discouraged people to spend.
“We’ve written to the Minister for Finance, appealing to him to reduce VAT rates to match the UK rates in order to increase competitiveness and encourage people to start spending again, as the city centre has seen a large decline in business”.
The UK VAT rate was reduced to 15 per cent on December 1 last.
Ms Tierney added:
“This would remove a lot of the distortions for traders along the Border and here in Limerick it would give people a positive message to start shopping again, and our demonstration is to highlight how a change in VAT would help not just business, but would protect local jobs and take financial pressures off families”.
Addressing members of the public on behalf of the traders, she said the 21.5 per cent VAT rate has “crucified the business economy.
“We’ve had to weather the detrimental effect of this unrealistic VAT rate at a time when the logical move would have been to reduce it.
“As it is, we’ve been forced to become more expensive at a time when government wants us to become cheaper – and by God, have we cheapened ourselves – everyone here today knows we are on the floor. – how can we be competitive when it’s blatantly obvious that we can’t compete against Northern Ireland and the UK – we can’t blame consumers for going North or to Britain”.
Ms Tierney warned that if the VAT rate is not reduced to 15 per cent, the business sector may as well throw away the keys to their premises.
