Business rates cuts ‘will boost local economy’

TAX cuts for some Greater Manchester businesses will help boost the economy and fuel the Northern Powerhouse, according to the government.

It is expected that businesses in all of Greater Manchester’s boroughs, except from Manchester, will see business rates fall from April.

The government is currently revaluating business rates across the country, to reflect changes in property prices since the last revaluation in 2010.

Analysis by Manchester based business rent and rates specialists CVS suggests that businesses in Manchester will face an average rise of 4.36 per cent.

But Stockport is likely to experience the biggest business rates fall expected to be a drop of 2.54 per cent.

However rises and falls in business rates are not uniform, with differing businesses set to become winners or losers.

Communities secretary Sajid Javid said that falls in business rates will boost the economies of Northern cities. But Paul Turner-Mitchell, of CVS, said there should be more caution in relation to figures in Greater Manchester.

He added: “In places such as Wigan, Bolton and Bury, where the fall is less than one per cent, it is unlikely that these changes will attract huge inward investment. But at the end of the day a reduction in taxes for business, however much, is good news for firms.

“The economic potential of the North of England is huge.

“Investors around the world can already see that for themselves with foreign direct investment in the Northern Powerhouse more than doubled over the past two years.

“With 95,000 jobs created in the North in the past year alone and a £4bn investment boost through devolution deals, Northern councils and businesses will have the edge and can be a catalyst to drive economic growth for the rest of the country.

“The revaluation of business rates will help make sure they are accurate and for Northern businesses this will save them hundreds of millions of pounds a year.

“On top of this, more than 190,000 businesses in the North of England will from this April pay no business rates at all, a change we’re looking to make permanent.” CHANGES in business rates set to take affect in April 2017, in comparison to last year. »●Manchester - up 4.36pc »●Bury - down 0.21pc »●Oldham - down 0.97pc »●Rochdale - down 1.56pc »●Bolton - down 0.97pc »●Salford - down 1.01pc »●Trafford - down 1.44pc »●Stockport - down 2.54pc »●Tameside down 0.71pc »●Wigan - down 0.25pc