Currys chief executive Alex Baldock has called on the government to reconsider its “ill-advised” inflation-linked increase to commercial property taxes next year.
He said the tax increase, coupled with a rise in minimum wages would cause “more sustained inflation” and would “hamper a lot of investment and growth and jobs in one of most important sectors in the country”.
In the Autumn Statement, chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced a freeze for the small business multiplier, which is used to calculate the final business rate bill, from April 2024. However, he uprated the standard multiplier by September’s consumer prices index figure of 6.7%, increasing it from 51.2p to 54.6p. It had been frozen for three years.
The increase will apply to businesses with rateable values above £51,000.
