The FSB has called for urgent action to address the UK’s ‘business rates chaos’ ahead of the Autumn Budget.
The business organisation first threw light on the staircase tax in August after small businesses occupying split workspaces unexpectedly started to receive hiked business rates bills.
The levy has caused many to lose small business rates relief, meaning bill increases of over 4,000 per cent, says the FSB, which is calling on the Chancellor to put an end to the staircase tax at the Budget.
All business rates bills across England and Wales are set to rise by 3.9 per cent in April 2018 in line with the largely discredited Retail Prices Index (RPI). At the same time, firms will lose their year one cap on bill increases. The FSB recommends that the Chancellor halts use of the RPI measure for business rates purposes.
Related: What are business rates? A guide for small businesses
Many of those hardest-hit by April’s revaluation across England are still waiting for delivery of the £435 million emergency relief package announced by the Chancellor at the Budget in March.
‘Seven months of business rates chaos’
Mike Cherry, FSB national chairman says, ‘Today marks seven months of business rates chaos following April’s bruising revaluation. In that time we’ve had the staircase tax, chronic delays to relief measures, a disastrous new appeals platform and now an RPI-linked increase in bills. The business rates regime is nothing short of a living nightmare for millions of small firms.
‘The Chancellor must put an end to the staircase tax at the Budget and ensure that each of the emergency reliefs announced at the last Budget are in place by 22 November. Four in ten councils are yet to pass on their share of the £300 million business rates hardship fund to struggling small businesses. After seven months, that’s ridiculous.’
FSB is also calling on the Chancellor to commit to more frequent business rates revaluations at the Budget. It argues that moving to more frequent reassessments would allow firms to benefit from fluctuations in the property market.
The FSB also highlights the disproportionate impact of April’s revaluation on London. The capital hosts 16 per cent of rateable properties but bears 32 per cent of UK rates payable.
The organisation is urging the Chancellor to set new small business rates relief (SBRR) thresholds for inner and outer London of £20,000 and £15,000 respectively. The latter is the nationwide threshold for SBRR eligibility in Scotland.
Further reading on business rates
