Chancellor must tackle business rates now - Chamber

Structural reform of the “outdated ” business rate system needs addressing immediately, Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) said today ahead of next week 's Budget statement.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to extend Covid-19 business relief until the end of the year when he addresses the House of Commons on 3 March but is believed to be delaying a long-term decision on business rates reform until the end of the year and has “kicked the can down the line, ” says Raj Kandola (pictured), the GBCC 's head of policy..

He added: “As we set out recently in our Back our Businesses campaign, it is essential for business rate relief to be extended into the rest of the year for those businesses operating in industries that have been hard hit by Covid-19 and we are pleased to see the Chancellor is likely to heed these calls in the upcoming Budget.

“Nevertheless, structural reform of the outdated business rate system is a completely different ball game and once again, it seems the Government has kicked the can down the line to avoid tackling the inherent issues at the heart of the system that need addressing right away.

“Reviewing the level of the multiplier and increasing the frequency of valuations would be a sensible start in the current economic conditions as businesses look to adapt and prepare for the uncertainty on the horizon.

“From a local perspective, concerns over the impact of business rates have become more prominent throughout the course of the last few months and I would urge you to complete our latest Quarterly Business Report survey as we can gather vital information on how businesses being affected throughout this crisis and how they are responding to the latest restrictions. ”

John Webber, head of business rates at Colliers, said: “The government has delayed its announcement four times in the last year. We were supposed to hear in the Autumn, then in the New Year, then in the Budget and now it 's the Autumn again.

“This is despite the Treasury Select Committee producing a very credible report with sensible recommendations in Autumn 2019 which now seems to have been ignored - not to mention all the consultations and reviews we 've had in previous years.

“It 's all very well for the Chancellor to say he is postponing the report to the autumn to allow him to make decisions when the economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic has receded. But that really is shutting the stable door when the horse has bolted.

“High business rates is one of the key factors that has helped decimate our high streets and the current system is skewed against the retail and hospitality sectors. We urgently need to re-balance this 50 per cent tax by re-basing the multiplier to 30p in the £1 - for a start- and we need more frequent revaluations so that we don 't see rates tied to totally out of sync rental values.

“Procrastinating over this now is only going to mean more job losses across the sector- long before the Autumn arrives. ”

Complete the Chamber's latest quarterly business survey here.

Read our Back Our Businesses report here.