PE01464: Postponement of the 2015 Non-domestic Rates Revaluation

The deferment of the 2015 Revaluation will cause increased distortion and unfairness in the rating tax base. The combination of the revaluation deferment and the Court's recent decisions to effectively truncate ratepayers' rights of appeal between revaluations would be unacceptable at any time but is particularly inappropriate at the present time when the lack of relief from excessive assessments and liabilities, based on pre recession property values, is driving many businesses to failure and choking any fresh tenant demand. If the Government wishes to stimulate growth it should provide a rating framework which allows the fluidity of the commercial property market to be properly refected in rateable values and rate liabilities.

P beagley

14:28 on 27 Feb 2013

The delay in revaluing the Rateable Values as scheduled in 2015 prevents a correction to be established between locations. High Streets will be further disadvantaged as the effect of rental reductions are not reflected across Business Rates. In some locations the rates are higher than the rent preventing investment into these locations with retailers moving out both national and local. The UK is already preceived to be one of the most expensive retail locations in the world and rates is always flagged up by international retailers who acquire more units abroad as a result. Also the banding on incentivised rates is way too low to have any effect on retail as very few decent shops lie withing the banding of £10,000 and £18,000pa. These bandings need widened to support independant retail. Tax out of town more using a higher UBR and have tighter time scales for rates appeals as retailers go bust before the appeals are even processed.

Estelle Forrester

12:10 on 27 Feb 2013

I am paying rates based on" boom time" turnover, during the greatest recession in my lifetime with no sign of recovery in the immediate future. This is putting my business under extreme pressure for survival but this government decides to extend this pressure by an extra 2 years!This short-sighted,arrogant stupidity will only serve to exacerbate an already unbearable burden. If this is an indication of what to expect in an independent Scotland I may as well file for bankruptcy now before the inevitable rush starts.

Billy Woods

17:04 on 24 Feb 2013

The deferment of the 2015 Revaluation will cause increased distortion and unfairness in the rating tax base. The combination of the revaluation deferment and the Court's recent decisions to effectively truncate ratepayers' rights of appeal between revaluations would be unacceptable at any time but is particularly inappropriate at the present time when the lack of relief from excessive assessments and liabilities, based on pre recession property values, is driving many businesses to failure and choking any fresh tenant demand. If the Government wishes to stimulate growth it should provide a rating framework which allows the fluidity of the commercial property market to be properly refected in rateable values and rate liabilities.

Mike Rose

16:30 on 20 Feb 2013

In the current economic climate where businesses need every support they can get, a decision to defer the revaluation to 2017 would be morally wrong. The repercussions for such a decision will see many more businesses going to the wall and a lot more empty shops on our High St.

Paul Bland

14:38 on 14 Feb 2013

This approach has all the hall marks of a tax increase buy stealth, if Scottish Government has a shortfall in income which it plans to fill from Businesses and Landlords, then a more transparent approach would surely be to amend the UBR, instead of this arbitrary delay.

Matt Bellshaw

9:58 on 05 Feb 2013

The whole point is 5 year revaluation is to reflect shifts in rental levels, either up or down and to reflect general changes in incidence across market sectors. Postponement puts unacceptable pressure and burdens on ratepayers where rental levels have dropped since the valuation tone date of the last revaluation. A re-balancing of the roll and "tone" should be carried out in 2015.

Alistair Wood

9:53 on 29 Jan 2013

This is nothing short of a complete rip off. Typical.

Haig

9:01 on 27 Jan 2013

It is disgraceful that the Scottish Government are proposing to preside over a grossly unfair and inequitable rating assement for commercial property in Scotland. What is fair and equitable about keeping rates bill artificially high. The Business Rates should be a fair and reasonalke tax which assesses the values fairly and correctly. This proposal utterly penalises struggling towns and Cities. Surely this should have been an openly stated policy of penalisation of the poorest perfoirming Cities in Scotland with excessive and unreasonable levels of Business Rates.

Matthew Griffiths

15:08 on 25 Jan 2013

Small businesses need help.times are bad enough we are the back bone of the economy .do we want more high street closures ?i hope that they see sense and stop punishing the small community shops.

Mario pacitti

23:52 on 23 Jan 2013