The impact of business rates on business

The current business rates system is negatively impacting business, the taxpayer and the economy as a whole. The retail sector is suffering significant problems with ever increasing rates in a highly competitive and shrinking physical market. Successive years of tweaks and tinkering at the edges of the existing system will be costing the taxpayer £13bn during the five-year period 2019/20 to 2023/24.

To combat some of the immediate problems, AAT believes annual revaluations must take place and that plant and machinery should be removed from the business rates equation.

AAT has long recognised that the current system is not fit for purpose but that alternatives offer varying degrees of imperfection. For this reason, government should establish a cross-party, consultative approach to agreeing a fairer, simpler alternative to business rates. The Treasury Select Committee report into this issue should be used as a starting point for action.