Mountain rescue teams face a hike in VAT from January
A Scottish National Party MSP who is also a mountain rescue team member has called on the coalition Government to keep a promise made at the election to refund or remove the UK’s mountain rescuers value added tax payments.
Michael Matheson, a member of the Ochils MRT, wrote to Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, to remind him of his statement the day before the election in which he said it was clear VAT could be refunded.
The volunteer teams in the UK pay an estimated £200,000 a year to the exchequer in VAT, and face a bill of thousands of pounds more when the rate rises to 20 per cent on 4 January. The Liberal Democrat manifesto contained a pledge to refund rescue teams’ VAT.
Britain’s unpaid mountain rescuers have put in thousands of man-hours in recent weeks during the heavy snowfalls helping medics and the emergency services using their 4×4 vehicles.
Falkirk West MSP Mr Matheson said: “It is utterly ridiculous that mountain rescue teams continue to pay VAT.
“It is estimated that mountain rescue team pay £150,000 to £200,000 a year in VAT. With 12 teams in Scotland that is money that could be spent on new vehicles, training or equipment that could help save lives.
“The day before the UK election Danny Alexander said anyone who uses our outdoors owes mountain rescue a debt. The UK Government owes mountain rescue more than a debt, it owes them hundreds of thousands of pounds in VAT – not just in Scotland but across the UK.
“This is yet another Lib Dem promise turned sour. Mountain rescue do an incredibly valuable job and they should be supported. Instead of taking VAT off mountain rescue the Lib Dems are now putting it up.”
The Scottish Government provides £300,000 annually to the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland which is shared between the teams, but teams south of the border receive no direct central government finance. The autumn comprehensive spending review contained no provision for the volunteer teams to recoup the tax.
Michael Matheson added: “The SNP Government has backed mountain rescue with £300,000 of government funding. It is time the UK Government paid its dues, scrapped the VAT and supported our essential outdoor services.”
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which also operates with volunteer rescue teams, is exempt from VAT.
Successive campaigns by representatives of Britain’s mountain rescue teams to get VAT relief have all been fruitless. An online petition also failed to move the last Government.
grough was unable to contact Danny Alexander. A spokesman for Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat president and MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale, who has campaigned on behalf of the teams, said: “Tim has been working on getting VAT removed. We have had a number of meetings and talks with Danny Alexander.” However, he was unable to say if there had been any progress.
