Business

Ian Guider: Hotel price gouging isn’t a good enough reason to end reduced Vat rate

The government should use the unused funds allocated to the Business Energy Support Scheme to extend the 9 per cent rate for the hospitality sector

The reduced 9 per cent Vat rate for the hospitality sector is due to return to 13.5 from the beginning of March. Picture: Getty

The big bang announcement of Budget 2023 was a €1.25 billion fund set aside to help businesses cope with soaring gas and electricity bills. As much as households also faced higher energy prices, those hikes are cushioned to some extent by government supports.

For companies there are no caps on prices, and unless you’re big enough to negotiate directly with suppliers, the percentage increases are way higher than the ones consumers were hit with.

Given ...