'Reform business rates and allow high streets to thrive once again'

HIGH streets will continue to die unless business rates are reined in, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has been warned.

- Martyn Brown

It came as figures showed over 17,000 shops were forced to shut last year, with the loss of 150,000 jobs.

The pandemic, cost-of-living crisis and the switch to online shopping have all clobbered bricks-and-mortar outlets and hospitality in recent years and business rates have added to their woes.

A TaxPayers' Alliance report is calling for "simple but fundamental" changes.

It notes that the system taxes not only the value of the land on which a commercial premises stands, but also a building's value and any improvements made.

It argues that this, on top of VAT, represents a double tax on commercial-use property and prompts landlords to shift buildings to residential use. Now the campaign group is calling for business rates to focus on land value only.

TPA chief executive John O'Connell said: "The current system punishes businesses that bolster high streets and add value to their local areas.

"Ministers can give bricks-and-mortar enterprises a much needed boost by reforming rates to take the pressure off Britain's vital businesses and allow high streets to once again thrive."