Ministers have defended the government’s decision to delay the business rates revaluation in the face of growing criticism from the retail and commercial property sectors. Business Minister Michael Fallon told a parliamentary committee that there would have been “more losers than winners” had the scheduled revaluation not been pushed back to 2015.
Brandon Lewis MP
Under Secretary of State Brandon Lewis backed his colleague by stating that the only beneficiaries from a revaluation at the present time would be London office tenants and the surveyors who would be paid to conduct the exercise. He continued to say that an independent review shows that retailers’ bills would have risen by 1 per cent following a revaluation.
“We took the view that stability was more important,” he insisted.
During the hearing, before the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, Mr Lewis dismissed calls from some quarters to scrap business rates relief for charity shops, saying their value to local communities should not be undervalued. He also disappointed those hoping for a root and branch review of business rates by claiming that the tax system is “always under review” and it was important to view it as a whole.
However, veteran retailer Bill Grimsey who – as we reported yesterday – believes that small retailers are effectively subsidising the ‘Big Four’ supermarkets under the current system, said the government should take more responsibility for the situation on the high street. He would like to see a High Streets Minister in the cabinet and he called for a one-off 0.25 per cent levy on supermarket profits to assist the recovery of town centres.
“It’s called payback time,” Mr Grimsey said.
Helen Dickinson, the director-general of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said she was pleased that business rates featured so prominently in the discussions. Describing the charge as an “outdated and disproportionate tax” she continued to say that it has a “crucial bearing” on the high street and hampers the industry’s ability to support communities and create jobs.
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