Tax blow for struggling shops

THOUSANDS of small businesses are struggling with sky-high tax bills as they wait for the Government’s relief package to be doled out in England and Wales.

The Treasury announced in March that firms facing the greatest rises in business rates (a tax on commercial property) would have increases capped at £50 per month this year. But the 11th-hour announcement was made after shops had already received their bills for April.

Now many shops say they are still paying the higher rates as councils re-issue bills.

‘Many businesses are realising the anticipated reliefs are not going to be forthcoming,’ says Debbie Warwick of estate agency Daniel Watney LLP.