CJ Construction Blog

The Government¹s sudden enthusiasm for tax cuts is a deeply troubling development. While popular with the public, it is hard to see many real gains.

Tax cuts will lessen pain among the poor, if well placed, but they¹re not likely to send us all shopping to save jobs.

While construction and property, which broadly speaking employs one tenth of the country¹s workforce, is a real force against the rising tide of unemployment.

The time has come to get things done that we never seem to get round to.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has only partly grasped this point with his well-publicised plan to accelerate spending on schools and health projects.

It must be backed up with measures to stimulate smaller building projects and tackle the huge backlog of refurbishment and maintenance schemes, offering a lifeline to smaller firms.

Also Government must act boldly to stimulate house building. The fact is the country still needs to build 200,000 homes a year. A programme will keep tens of thousands of construction workers off the dole while returning tax payments to Government coffers and protecting valuable skills for the future.

Importantly, if Government-brokered deals are well-structured, the tax payer would see good returns as houses were resold at market values later.

Unfunded tax cuts, on the other hand, will ultimately usher in damaging capital spending cuts because no Government is going to raise taxes at a later date.