Rishi Sunak under pressure to halt planned music tax to save gigs and jobs

RISHI Sunak faces pressure to prevent a “cost of gigging crisis” for music fans — which could also threaten thousands of industry jobs.

The warning to the Chancellor comes before the Spring Statement later this month with the industry calling for a VAT rise on concert tickets to be stopped.

Rishi Sunak faces pressure to prevent a ‘cost of gigging crisis’ for music fans

Ministers are also under huge pressure to address the overall cost of living crisis with households hit by rising energy costs and price rises.

Music lovers currently pay 12.5 per cent on tickets for live events but this will be raised to 20 per cent on April 1.

Promoters and industry bigwigs fear the price hike may force punters to be hit in the pocket just as music returns from almost two years after Covid.

Before the pandemic, the music industry brought in £5.8 billion and supported 200,000 jobs — with around one in three jobs lost over the pandemic due to venues unable to open.

UK Music Chief Executive Jamie Njoku-Goodwin said: “The planned hike in VAT could not come at a worse time for millions of music fans and the live music industry, which was shut down for almost two years due to the pandemic.

“We saw during those grim periods of lockdown just how important music was to people’s mental health and how it helps us get through some really tough times.

“Pushing up VAT to 20 per cent would be hugely damaging for the music industry and leave music fans facing a cost of gigging crisis.

“The rise would come at a time when we are rebuilding post-pandemic, with hundreds of concerts planned over the next few months.

“Dumping the planned VAT hike would help keep ticket prices down for fans and help music businesses pay down Covid debts and help generate thousands of new jobs.

“It would help the music industry continue to recover and rebuild after the pandemic wiped out around one in three jobs in our sector.”

The UK presides over one of the highest tax rates on hospitality in Europe.

Across France and Spain the VAT rate is just ten per cent and seven per cent in Germany.