§ Mr. MacGregorasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will estimate the revenue cost of extending capital allowances, at present available for industrial buildings, to (a) all commercial buildings, not at present covered, (b) agricultural buildings, (c) hotel building structures, (d) retail buildings, and (e) office buildings.
§ Mr. Robert SheldonThe cost of extending industrial buildings allowances to all commercial building expenditure would be of the order of £700 million in a full year, for expenditure incurred from 1st April 1978. This total might include £250 million for offices, £100 million for shops and possibly £30 million for hotels. All these figures would depend on the definitions of commercial buildings and of the individual categories.
These estimates do not include the cost of giving annual allowances on existing buildings, which would add some £200 million to the full-year cost. The available information is insufficient to divide this amount between categories of building.
The cost of replacing the present allowances for agricultural buildings by industrial buildings allowances would be of the order of £25 million in a full year.
All the above figures assume that the whole of the extended allowances are covered by profits.