Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the effectiveness, and (2) the fairness of the current system of business rates; and what plans they have to change the current system.
Business rates currently raise £25 billion per year in England, and are an important source of funding for key local services such as adult social care and children’s services.
The Government concluded a fundamental review of business rates in 2016, and respondents agreed that property based taxes were easy to collect, difficult to avoid, relatively stable and clearly linked with local authority spending.
In line with stakeholder responses, the Government therefore decided to keep business rates as a property tax.