Building maintenance should be tax deductible or the value added tax rate on renovating existing buildings should be cut, Bernard Wientjes, head of the employers organisation VNO-NCW, says in an interview with the Financieele Dagblad.

The measure would help support the construction sector, which has been hard hit by the economic downturn, Wientjes told the paper.
In addition, his organisation is to lobby the economic affairs ministry to do more to stimulate research and development. ‘We have to make as much use as possible of subsidies for innovation projects so that companies do not cut spending on research during the recession,’ he said.