Pre-Budget call to cut VAT rates

CUTTING VAT from 13.5% to 12.5%, placing a cap on increases levied by local authorities for services and greater spending on marketing Ireland as a tourist destination are on the shopping list of the Irish Tourist Industry Confederation in advance of this year’s Budget.

The ITIC’s pre-Budget submission said the Government should avoid any new measures that would adversely affect tourism but warned local authority charges were now “out of control.”