A Round Table on Reforming Heritage Maintenance Funds was held by Historic Houses’ [Alliance member] in Parliament on 21 May. The round table was part of their campaign which calls on Government to reduce income tax on Heritage Maintenance Funds (HMFs) to 20%, so that they can work harder for conservation and public access purposes.
The round table was attended by (former) Heritage Minister Michael Ellis, as well as MPs Tracey Crouch, Kevin Brennan and other key figures and politicians. They all agreed on the significant economic, social and public benefits of historic houses, and discussed ways to find solution to their conservation and maintenance needs.
HMFs are designed to enable nationally important historic houses that are open to the public to ring-fence funds (from their own resources) for maintenance. HMFs are exempt from inheritance tax to enable more of the funds in them to be devoted to conservation. In their current form, however, with income tax levied at 45%, HMFs are not being used to their full potential – just 8% of Historic Houses have one.
To read more about the Historic Houses’ campaign, please follow this link. There will be more footage from the Round table on HH’s website soon.
You can also view HH’s videos on related events in Muncaster and Pitchford.