Business rates - all change
Discussion
Except it won't be as simple as that! For the simple reason that the revenue from business rates is dispropprtinate. Eg City of London and Westninster bring in huges sums, whilst rural boroughs have significantly less. Cant see Westminster and City being allowed to keep all their revenue!
fblm said:
fesuvious said:
As someone who currently spunks 70k a year on bloody business rates I am very much interested!
powerstroke said:
Im not so sure ! our local lot cheshire east are a real shower ,seem unable to come up with a workable local plan for building development for instance, so for me i would like to see them loosing responsibility
for things not given more to screw up!!!
You do know an awful lot of the yokels are against any type of development ? (I'm not one of them)for things not given more to screw up!!!
Business ratees are a tax on commercial property, and the services that are recieved in return for that tax are limited.Potentially there is fire and police, and then potentialy street lighting highwats to the property etc. I guess staff potentially get to benefit from education, library services etc.
As to what is to prevent the rates being ramped up even more the answer to that appears to be a cap on increases. It appears councils will be able to decrease rates, but increases (beyond a government set percentage) will only be permitted in areas with an elected mayor, and even then capped at 2% unless there is a vote. I assume it will be a similar system to business improvement districts where businesses get to vote on whether to pay extra business rates to receive additional services.
Oh and if you do have large rate bills be wary of those fims offering to reduce them. Some are reputable, many aren't!
As to what is to prevent the rates being ramped up even more the answer to that appears to be a cap on increases. It appears councils will be able to decrease rates, but increases (beyond a government set percentage) will only be permitted in areas with an elected mayor, and even then capped at 2% unless there is a vote. I assume it will be a similar system to business improvement districts where businesses get to vote on whether to pay extra business rates to receive additional services.
Oh and if you do have large rate bills be wary of those fims offering to reduce them. Some are reputable, many aren't!
Digga said:
fblm said:
fesuvious said:
As someone who currently spunks 70k a year on bloody business rates I am very much interested!
fblm said:
What does 70k tax? a 2,000 square foot shop or a 200,000 squarefoot warehouse? Genuine question I have absolutely no idea.
Depends where in the country you are! £70,000pa business rtae bill will meana rateable value of £140,000. The rateable value is meant to represent the annual rent in 2008. The office I am sitting in in the City of London is valued at £400 sq m, sp 350 sq m of this building would have a bill of £70,000pa. Although thats in theory as in reality if you had a floor area of 350 sq m you'd be paying more per square metre. Each floor is actually 2,000 sq m, and we occupy 3, so our annual bill is £1.75 million!Your £70,00pa would get you a shop of around 300 sq m in an ok area of Brighton, 700 sq m of shop in one of Readings shopping centres (an off pitch location though I suspect), 1,500 sq m of offices in Brighton, 470 sq m of offices in Lambeth.
More interestingly it would get you a fire station in Clapham, or a sewage plant in East Grinstead!
Fingers crossed that this makes running a town center commercial venture more viable (local council will have the ability to reduce what people have been saying are punitively high costs), end result being encouraging smaller indies back and filling empty shops with more useful things than charity shops.
Chrisgr31 said:
Business ratees are a tax on commercial property, and the services that are recieved in return for that tax are limited.Potentially there is fire and police, and then potentialy street lighting highwats to the property etc. I guess staff potentially get to benefit from education, library services etc.
As to what is to prevent the rates being ramped up even more the answer to that appears to be a cap on increases. It appears councils will be able to decrease rates, but increases (beyond a government set percentage) will only be permitted in areas with an elected mayor, and even then capped at 2% unless there is a vote. I assume it will be a similar system to business improvement districts where businesses get to vote on whether to pay extra business rates to receive additional services.
Oh and if you do have large rate bills be wary of those fims offering to reduce them. Some are reputable, many aren't!
YHM Chris.As to what is to prevent the rates being ramped up even more the answer to that appears to be a cap on increases. It appears councils will be able to decrease rates, but increases (beyond a government set percentage) will only be permitted in areas with an elected mayor, and even then capped at 2% unless there is a vote. I assume it will be a similar system to business improvement districts where businesses get to vote on whether to pay extra business rates to receive additional services.
Oh and if you do have large rate bills be wary of those fims offering to reduce them. Some are reputable, many aren't!
prand said:
Fingers crossed that this makes running a town center commercial venture more viable (local council will have the ability to reduce what people have been saying are punitively high costs), end result being encouraging smaller indies back and filling empty shops with more useful things than charity shops.
That's how I see it, Council's will need to ensure attractive business rates that will entice more business in. Those without a clue will see businesses in their patch move away. Well that's the theory. We are lucky in having a proactive Council keen to continue building good business relationships.fesuvious said:
fblm said:
Chrisgr31 said:
Depends where in the country you are! £70,000pa business rtae bill will meana rateable value of £140,000. The rateable value is meant to represent the annual rent in 2008.
Wow. Thanks. The tax on businesses are shocking.Yes, the taxes are unreal. Especially when the public are unaware.
The interesting thing is that the larger premise is worth a whopping 30% less now on the open (rental) market. The other probably @20% less (different area).
Roll on a revaluation.........
Chrisgr31 said:
Depends where in the country you are! £70,000pa business rtae bill will meana rateable value of £140,000. The rateable value is meant to represent the annual rent in 2008. The office I am sitting in in the City of London is valued at £400 sq m, sp 350 sq m of this building would have a bill of £70,000pa. Although thats in theory as in reality if you had a floor area of 350 sq m you'd be paying more per square metre. Each floor is actually 2,000 sq m, and we occupy 3, so our annual bill is £1.75 million!
Your £70,00pa would get you a shop of around 300 sq m in an ok area of Brighton, 700 sq m of shop in one of Readings shopping centres (an off pitch location though I suspect), 1,500 sq m of offices in Brighton, 470 sq m of offices in Lambeth.
More interestingly it would get you a fire station in Clapham, or a sewage plant in East Grinstead!
This perfectly illustrates why the high street is dying and the internet is thriving! Your £70,00pa would get you a shop of around 300 sq m in an ok area of Brighton, 700 sq m of shop in one of Readings shopping centres (an off pitch location though I suspect), 1,500 sq m of offices in Brighton, 470 sq m of offices in Lambeth.
More interestingly it would get you a fire station in Clapham, or a sewage plant in East Grinstead!
surveyor said:
It's coming... Although from what I understand the VO have rather sunk themselves with the extension to the list and by restricting the effective date of post 1/4/2015 appeals. The result was a whole boat load of appeals when normally their work would be quietening down, perfect for giving them time to work on the reval....
Both the postponement of the 2015 Reval and the March 31st 2015 were Treasury decisions, with no consultation with the VOA (well not at grass roots level). As a consequence there's no manpower for it and the backlog of appeals has gone mental.Whilst a good number of RVs will fall at the revaluation, business rates brings in £26bn a year which no politician or council will want to reduce. Therefore the multipliers will have to increase to keep the tax take at this level.
Despite governments of all colours claiming to be on the side of businesses, Business Rates are simple, cheap to collect and not one that is paid personally by voters, hence its going nowhere soon IMHO.
My rates bill comes to just shy of £80k pa, which is for 3 small retail stores. It's staggering the amount raised via business rates and the majority of the public have never even heard of business rates nor understand how it's calculated.
My rates bills have increased year on year and I highly doubt they'll ever decrease. It's so out of touch and is directly responsible for the demise of many high Street retail stores as so many are stuck with out of date rateable values. Trouble is, if rates do go down rents will only increase...
My rates bills have increased year on year and I highly doubt they'll ever decrease. It's so out of touch and is directly responsible for the demise of many high Street retail stores as so many are stuck with out of date rateable values. Trouble is, if rates do go down rents will only increase...
I recall looking at an empty retail unit in my local town centre and wondering if I could make something of it, but after discovering just how much is charged in business rates I feared I'd never make enough to cover that and the rent on top, let alone have anything left to pay for myself to eat, so I decided not to bother.
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