EU Olympic VAT to hit London council taxpayers hardest

taken from UKIP website

06-11-2006

News that the Olympic bid team neglected to include VAT in their cost estimates will mean a new bill for the taxpayer.

Gerard Batten, UKIP MEP for London, said: "It beggars belief that the organisers of the London Olympics have overlooked VAT, which current estimates put at more than £1 billion.

"The sheer incompetence is bad enough but to add insult to injury, the Government cannot even waive the VAT because to do so would contravene EU laws on state subsidies.

"The truth is that no-one knows how much the Olympics is going to cost and the lasting legacy to London council tax payers will be a debt that will take decades to pay off, and a large part of that will be courtesy of the EU."

VAT at 17.5% on construction costs will mean an increase of £1.4 bilion to the cost of the project.