Stores call for freeze on rate bills
NICOLA Sturgeon is facing mounting pressure to freeze business rates, amid fears a likely rise of £83million could push firms under.
Business leaders say the high street’s future is in the balance as stores face crippling hikes, while trying to compete with online rivals.
Ministers are expected to match next year’s increase with consumer price inflation figures published yesterday.
This would see the current rates bill rise by 2.4 per cent. But the extra cost could be as high as £95million if the Scottish Government reverts to using the higher retail price index, currently 3.3 per cent.
Scottish Retail Consortium head of policy Ewan MacDonald-Russell said: ‘The spiral of ever-increasing rates bills is a crucial factor in the struggle faced by property-based retailers to survive.
‘It’s absurd to pretend it’s sustainable to continue heaping this burden on these businesses.’
The UK Government will set the rate at which business rates will rise across the rest of the UK in its Budget later this month. The Scottish Government will then decide in December whether to match the UK ‘poundage rate’ increase.
Stuart Mackinnon, a spokesman for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, said: ‘It will be interesting to see if the Chancellor freezes rates in England. If he was to do that we would expect the Scottish Government to do the same.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Scottish Government will set out our plans for non-domestic rates poundage in the Scottish Budget on December 12.’