Retailers hoping for a business rates cut in 2023 risk being disappointed after the government appeared to rule out scrapping the so-called fiscal neutrality rule.
The chancellor froze business rates in last week’s Budget until April 2023. At that point rateable values, which are based on annual rents, will be reassessed for the first time since 2017.
While commercial rents in many areas have fallen sharply since then, a Treasury review into business rates published alongside the Budget suggests ministers have no intention of ending the legal requirement that each revaluation must be revenue-neutral to the Treasury.
