Business Rates - Change Required NOW!

Business Rates have been a nonsense from the outset. Valuations based on the notional rental values of Hereditaments might have appealed to the scribes of the Domesday Book, but they are now  strangling the life out of local enterprises and the communities which depend on them.

The latest body to highlight the inequities of Business Rates is the House of Commons Business,Innovation and Skills Select Committee. In a report published as recently as 4 March, the Committee identified the damage Business Rates are doing to both retailing and the provision of services vital to local communities.Access to cash away from Bank Branches is one public service that the Committee highlighted as being under threat.

The negative impact of Business Rates has been made much worse this year by National Government giving Local Authorities the right to keep any extra Rates they levy over and above the amount raised in 2013. 

Local Authorities desperate for cash are now asking their Valuation Offices to step up the imposition of Business Rates.Basically, anything that doesn't move is at risk of being valued.SO DON'T PARK YOUR CAR FOR TOO LONG !

Almost everyone believes that a local Sales Tax would be a fairer and more transparent means of raising funds needed to finance Local Government.

There is some talk of having to wait until 2017 to change Business Rates.This is far too long a delay. The patient is dying. By 2017, an autopsy will be required, not treatment!

Eric Pickles is the Government Minister responsible for Business Rates. He is a down-to-earth and practical man. In short , a "doer". He needs to "do" now,not wait for the autopsy report in three years time!

Friday, 14th March 2014

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