LONDON — To the delight of British churches, especially the Church of England, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown has announced that in his next budget he will propose reducing value added tax (VAT) on repairing and maintaining church buildings from the present 17.5 percent to 5 percent.
The proposal has to be approved by the European Commission in Brussels.
It has been a long-standing complaint of the Church of England, responsible for the upkeep of the vast majority of the country’s historic churches, that it has to pay VAT on church repairs whereas no VAT is charged on building a new church.
That makes it cheaper to raze a historic church and build a new one than to maintain the old building.
Share with others: