TO ALL MEMBERS
Defence of revaluation deferment causes Government to apparently attack rating surveyors and the financial services industry.
If the Telegraph Business News for 30th October 2013 is to be believed Michael Fallon, business minister, is reported as suggesting ‘that only the financial service industry and surveyors would have benefitted from a revaluation’.
This was part of the evidence reported as being given to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee on Tuesday 29th October and is contained within the article entitled ‘Retailers would not benefit from rates revaluation, says Government‘ on page B3 of this publication.
Although the full Minutes of the proceedings are not yet available [see http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commons-committees/business-innovation-and-skills/Formal-Minutes-2013-14.pdf] the article suggests that (per Brandon Lewis, ‘high streets minister) ”. .the ‘biggest beneficiaries’ from a revaluation would have been London office tenants, where rents have fallen sharply following the financial crisis, and the surveyors who were paid to conduct the revaluation”
Separately, In its editorial comment on page B2 of the same edition of Telegraph Business the following words appear:
’The main topic of the debate was business rates and the damage the tax is causing in the High Street. The two ministers were reluctant to accept that business rates were an outdated form of tax for retailers, given the rise of the internet’
’Instead, they said the tax system has to be judged ‘as a whole’, pointing out that the Government has cut corporation tax and national insurance for retailers.’
’This is not a surprising reaction – business rates will be worth GBP 29.6bn by 2016, when it will overtake council tax and fuel duty to become the Treasury’s fifth biggest source of income. Given Britain’s debt, the Treasury cannot a fford to fiddle with such a windfall.’
’However, the Government must also face an uncomfortable truth. As consumer spending shifts to the internet, more shops are going to close. This means less commercial property to pay business rates. Eventually, the tax has to be reformed.’
Best wishes, in what may prove to be a further difficult period, for the profession.
Richard Guy - HCO Rating Surveyors’ Association / Email to Members / 30-October-2013 enquiries@ratingsurveyorsassociation.org
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