BORIS Johnson should slash VAT on home insulation and give tax breaks to Brits who buy electric cars, MPs demand today.
Ministers must incentivise cash-strapped Brits to build back greener after the Covid crisis, the Environmental Audit Committee said.
In a string of recommendations, they called on the chancellor to use the upcoming Budget to slash VAT on products which make homes more energy efficient – like double glazing and home insulation.
And MPs said “tax incentives” should be created to help Brits switch over to pricey electric cars and make them more affordable.
The group also called on ministers to look at a carbon border tax – something the Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng floated last week.
That would slap taxes on polluting goods which are imported in from around the world, incentivising British companies to go green here instead.
Ministers should also look at a carbon tax to punish the most polluting parts of the economy, the MPs said.
But Downing Street has ruled out any new taxes hitting Britain’s meat economy, which can produce too many carbon emissions.
The call comes as Britain prepares to host the COP26 climate summit in November in Glasgow.
Ministers are expected to reveal a new strategy for making homes and buildings greener in the coming months, and lay out more plans for how hydrogen can spark a green revolution in the UK.
Tory MP Philip Dunne, chair of the committee, said today: “There will be no vaccine against runaway climate change, and it is our responsibility now, using the opportunity of the economic recovery, to set the UK on track for net-zero.
“A tax system fit for net-zero Britain is key.”
It comes as the government vowed to build Britain’s first hydrogen powered home by April.
The state-of-the-art technology, part funded by the Government, can be used for heating and cooking, and doesn’t produce any nasty carbon emissions.
Most homes are part heated and fueled with gas, which is responsible for over 30 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions.
But hydrogen produces no carbon at the point of use, with the only by-product being water.
