Darling
delays full business rates hike
The Government has scrapped plans to increase business rates by 5% from 1 April.
On Tuesday Chancellor Alistair Darling confirmed that firms would instead pay 2% more this year, while the remaining 3% rise will be spread out over the following two years.
Explaining his decision, Mr Darling said: ‘I am very conscious of the fact that businesses in this country were faced with an increase to business rates of 5% simply because the increase in business rates is linked to the rate of RPI inflation last autumn, last September.
‘But RPI inflation has now fallen to 0% in the last month and it is expected that it will fall further than that.’
Business leaders have welcomed the move which, according to Government estimations, will benefit one-and-a-half million properties and result in the deferment of £600m.
John Wright, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), said: ‘This is good news for small businesses, as far as it goes. This shows that FSB pressure has finally paid off.’
However, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has expressed concerns over the timing of the eventual increase. ‘Staggering the cost is still an increase and it will be complex,’ warned Kevin Hoctor, head of policy at the BCC. ‘Businesses will still be hit at a time when they have restricted cash-flow and growth.’
Currently the postponement only applies
only in