Shops paying higher taxes than oil giants
SCOTLAND’S small firms will pay more in tax than the entire North Sea oil industry this year following an increase in business rates.
Rates rose by 2 per cent earlier this month, which will see an estimated £2.8billion in revenues being given to the Scottish Government.
The falling price of oil will see only £700million in revenues flowing to the Treasury in the same period – four times less than business rates.
Last night critics demanded that Finance Secretary John Swinney review the business rate regime. Retailers warn that high streets will lose hundreds of shops every year unless the punishing rate of business tax is drastically reduced.
Around 300 traditional stores are already closing each year because of the double onslaught of the tax and the rise of online shopping.
David Lonsdale, director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, said: ‘The tax measures unveiled in the Budget aimed at assisting the oil and gas sector were sensible and encouraging.
‘The retail industry is undergoing profound change due to structural, economic and regulatory forces, and other routes to market – notably online – are increasingly more attractive and far less costly than maintaining a bricks and mortar presence of shops.
‘This places a question mark over likely future tax revenues from business rates. A failure to overhaul business rates, which escalated again in April, could lead to communities across Scotland missing out on investment in retail outlets and the jobs they bring.’
A Scottish Government spokes- man said: ‘Business rates remain under review, building on the action plan we put together in 2012-13. We continue to make improvements, reflecting feedback from businesses and maintaining a competitive edge for taxpayers.’