Rating experts have called for joined-up thinking on business rates after a report today from the department of Business, Innovation and Skills.
Experts have urged the government to take a cross-departmental approach that includes BIS, CLG and HM Treasury and ensures that needed reforms are “done once, at the right time and done properly”.
Mark Rigby, chief executive of rating specialist CVS, said: “Loading in more layers of complexity and special circumstances for specific occupier groups may result in a system that becomes more cumbersome and actually less responsive to the needs of business rate payers.
“We want improvement and we welcome the call for reform but we urge government to do it once, at the right time, and properly.
“That means at the conclusion of the 2010 Rating List in 2017 and in a way that recognises that the system must become more customer-focused, with business rate payers getting both a fair deal and a responsive service from HMRC and the Valuation Office Agency.”
Tim Attridge, head of retail rating at CBRE, said: “This report is the second in as many weeks calling for changes to the business rates tax with focus upon the retail sector. The government will not reintroduce the 2015 revaluation, which they have postponed until 2017.
“It is clear that the current system is broken and unfair, and that the government is blinkered by the revenue generated by the tax and is ignoring the impact upon business growth, with the retail sector suffering more than most.
“The government now has a real opportunity to listen to business and industry experts and bring about reform.”
Gerald Eve head of rating Jerry Schurder added: “There is no reason why the current business rates system – if properly implemented and assuming sensible changes such as annual revaluations are made – cannot work effectively and help support the UK’s much-beleaguered high street. The time for tinkering around the edges is over, and the government simply must listen to the committee’s recommendations and enact the necessary reviews as quickly as possible if we are not to lose the high street, the hub of the community, forever.”
nick.whitten@estatesgazette.com
