Redditch property agent John Truslove has backed calls for the Government to offer a £1 billion rebate on business rates.
And he has demanded greater Whitehall transparency, urging that an audit of the nation’s accounts be made public annually.
His comments come in the wake of the controversial postponement of the scheduled 2015 rates revaluation which has left many in the West Midlands paying more than they should, hampering the region’s ability to generate growth and jobs.
Mr Truslove charged: “This Government has a discreet policy to cajole, request, demand and grab absolutely every penny it can from the poor taxpayer, be it through property rates, stamp duty, VAT, or general taxation.
”All this is to cover up and fund the huge financial ‘black hole’ resulting from their – and previous governments – poor financial policies.
”It would be interesting to judge Britain plc by reference to audited accounts, and I fail to see why such a document is not presented to the public annually. It should be.”
Mr Truslove said he “fully endorsed” a plea from GVA, the UK’s largest independent commercial property advisors, for the Government to return an estimated £1 billion in savings to businesses worst affected by the revaluation being pushed back two years.
Business rates, a form of property tax, are pegged to inflation and property values. They were last set in 2008, at the height of the property boom.
According to GVA, with the revaluation deferred, the Government will accrue the massive savings as a result of not having to pay transitional relief payments.
Accepting that despite protest and lobbying across many fronts, the Government is not going to change its mind, it is calling on it to re-employ the sum, created through not having to operate this transitional adjustment scheme from 2015, and look to help businesses that need this assistance the most.
It has suggested three potential ways in which the savings can be returned – ensuring an inflationary freeze in business rates for the 2015/16 and 2016/17 rate years; easing the rates burden to business in the locations and sectors in England that have suffered so much through the revaluation being deferred; and increasing empty rates relief to pre April 2008 levels for a two year period.
Mr Truslove said: “Postponing the revaluation was a disgrace.
“The West Midlands economy is being seriously damaged by the Government’s dithering and it should feel duty bound to consider ways of ameliorating the pain.
“I urge it to act.”
