Rural firms '˜will be hit by rates crisis'

BUSINESSES across the countryside are facing a hike in their tax bills 'as a result of a flawed rates system which is in urgent need of review'.
ROSS MURRAY: Ministers appear to have a tin ear to this problem and it is not good enough.ROSS MURRAY: Ministers appear to have a tin ear to this problem and it is not good enough.
ROSS MURRAY: Ministers appear to have a tin ear to this problem and it is not good enough.

The Country Land and Business Association (CLA), which represents thousands of rural businesses, has set out an action plan for Treasury Ministers to avert the impending business rates crisis.

CLA President Ross Murray said: “Rural businesses are suffering because of a clumsy and unfair rates system.

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“From this April, thousands of businesses will see dramatic increases in their rates bill, a problem exacerbated by the political decision to delay revaluation by two years.

“Ministers appear to have a tin ear to this problem and it is not good enough. That is why we are setting out an action plan that Ministers could adopt as soon as this Budget on 8 March going some way to defuse a looming rural economic crisis.”

In a letter to Treasury Chief Secretary David Gauke, the CLA has set out five decisions the Government could make immediately. This would reduce the burden on businesses, and prevent the damaging situation that many are facing now from ever happening again.

The suggestions include helping businesses worst affected by the revaluation whose rateable value has moved from below the 100 per cent rateable relief threshold, to a rateable value above the new threshold. He said this was a dramatic change in business costs that could threaten their viability. He said the ban on businesses with multiple properties qualifying for Small Business Rates Relief should be ended and the Government should remove the requirement to pay for appeals for those worst affected.

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The Government should remove rates liability for empty buildings in rural areas. And he said the Government should deliver ‘right first time’ valuations in rural areas, to ensure valuations are based on local circumstances and not on regionally estimated benchmarks.

Morrisons chairman wades into row: Page 17.

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