The government has been urged to ease a ‘double burden’ of business rate rises by the Forum of Private Business (FPB).
Small businesses face a 5% rise in rates in April and the government is also planning to allow local authorities to impose additional business rates under its Business Rates Supplements Bill.
The lobby group is calling on the government to scrap the 5% rise in the small business multiplier used to calculate rates payments, which is above the rate of inflation and has been identified by the FPB as “unrealistic in the current economic climate”. In addition, it argues that the multiplier should be exempt from increases until at least 2010.
"Increases to rates charges and the spectre of supplementary business rates mean small businesses face another considerable cost burden at a time they can least afford it," said the FPB’s Chief Executive, Phil Orford.
"This cannot be justified in an environment of falling sales, deflationary pressure and serious recessionary restrictions. It is particularly frustrating considering the rise in business rates has been calculated using old data, namely September 2008’s inflation rate figure of 5%. By February 2009, inflation rates had fallen to 2.1%."
The FPB is also calling for Small Business Rates Relief to apply automatically, amid concerns that fewer than half of eligible businesses in the UK actually receive the support.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2009