LONDON: UK high streets could see their taxes cut after next year as ministers launch a review of business rates ahead of this week’s budget. Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, will make the announcement on Monday, calling it the “most wide-ranging review of national business rates in a generation”.
He will say it could pave the way for changes to the way companies across England pay the tax. The review is due to report before the budget in 2016.
The rates are hated by many small businesses on the high street, which face competition from online retailers. Business lobby groups are likely to be especially cheered by the fact that the review will look at the link between rates and property values. However, John Longworth, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said that while the government was asking a lot of important questions, businesses know that “actions speak louder than words”.
The review, which was first announced last year, will look at the way businesses use property, what the UK can learn from other countries, and how the system can be modernised to better reflect changes in the value of property.
George Osborne, the chancellor, is also this week expected to announce plans to improve travel in the north of England, including a new Oyster-style transport card, major new investments in roads, and a new electric train line.
Osborne has insisted that his budget will not contain “giveaways or gimmicks”, but he is expected to reveal at least one policy to appeal to voters financially ahead of the election. It has already been announced that the Treasury will give millions of pensioners the right to swap their regular retirement incomes for cash lump sums. The move to end restrictions on the sale of annuities without incurring punitive tax penalties appears to be designed to woo older voters.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, the chancellor said it was patronising to suggest that older people would blow their pension pots. On the programme, he said his budget would be based around securing a “truly national recovery”, but refused to say whether it would be fiscally neutral. He is expected to raise the personal allowance from its current level of £10,500 and could potentially cut beer duty.
