The VAT was increased on the first of July. This has already affected all your bills from day to day shopping to petrol, gas and electricity. So how does this affect your income / expenses?
The VAT (IVA) of 4% that applies to basic and primary items such as: Bread, frozen dough, eggs, cheese, milk, beans, fruit, vegetables, books, magazines and newspapers remain the same. However the 7% rate has increased by 1% to 8% that includes other food stuff, soft drinks, property sales, hotel and restaurant, etc.
However the 16% rate has increased by 2% to 18% that affects most services, repairs, petrol and so on.
Apart from water and electricity, the 16% rate is what most community bills are based on. All your maintenance contracts and most products purchased by your community are affected by this increase which will of course reflect on your community expenses and finally your community fees in the coming year.
While some of us have not felt or counted the difference of this change in our daily life (maybe as yet), what’s for sure is that an increase in our community fees is the last thing that we would like to see at our next AGMs!
So can we avoid it? I personally think yes. There are plenty of ways that an active committee can do to reduce your community fees and not just by 2%. In my next few articles I will try to concentrate on giving you advice on how to reduce your community fees.