Skip to main content

40,000 WELSH FIRMS FACE AN INCREASE IN BUSINESS RATES

Finally, some good news on the business rates front, especially after the thousands of words I have written on the subject over the last month.

As I had predicted on Saturday, the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) has followed England and reduced the multiplier which helps to calculate business rates.

However, this will still mean that 40,000 businesses across Wales are still facing an increase in their bills next April at a time when they need every penny they can get.

Therefore, there is still much that needs to be done to deal with these higher bills and I remain concerned that the Assembly still denies that it does not have the power to delay the property revaluation exercise, which runs every five years, and so help those small firms which are facing increases in their rates.

There is simply no reason why, under the powers it has through the Local Government Act, why it could not suspend the payments by companies which are being hit hard by the revaluation exercise for at least one year, given that such support could essentially be classed as a rate relief, and I hope that pressure will continue to be exerted on Ministers to re-examine this critical issue.

I suspect this prevarication over revaluation has more to do with political cowardice and a reluctance to admit the truth rather than doing what is right for small firms.

However, let's get one thing clear about this before any politician decides to be disingenuous with the truth about how much WAG is helping small firms. In this case, there has been no additional support from WAG for Welsh business.

As the Valuation Office stated recently, the fact that this was not an income generating exercise meant that WAG had to reduce the multiplier to a point where the business rates scheme was cost neutral. Therefore, it is not WAG that will be paying for the decrease in business rates for 64,000 businesses across Wales but the 40,000 firms which will be getting an increase in their business rates as a result of revaluation.

Therefore, unlike Scotland, the fight for a fairer business rates system for Wales goes on and I hope that the FSB, the IOD, the CBI, as well as politicians across Wales, will continue to pressurise WAG for a fair deal for our small business community and to follow the lead of Scotland in ensuring that the majority of our small firms pay no rates at all.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE CRACHACH

Unlike me, do you consider yourself part of 'the establishment' here in Wales?  As thousands gather for the Eisteddfod in Mold this morning, they will, according to some social commentators, not be participating in the greatest cultural festivals of Europe. Instead, they will merely be bit-part players in one of the annual gatherings of the great and good of Wales.  Unkindly, this set of the movers and shakers in Welsh society is known as 'the crachach' , and constitute a social class all of their own, dominating the educational, cultural and media sectors of Wales and allegedly looking down upon any outsider with new ideas, reinforcing mediocrity and failing to see beyond the limits of their own narrow experience.  They are said to live in a comfort zone that awaits the expected invitation to the next glass of chilled chardonnay and canapés, forgetting that due to their lack of leadership and drive, Wales remains firmly rooted to the bottom of the UK prosperity league ...
30 comments
Read more

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CREATIVE CLASSES

One of my favourite academic books of the last two decades must be the “Rise of the Creative Classes” by Professor Richard Florida.  This was one of the first detailed studies of the growing group of individuals who use their creativity and mental labour to earn a living and not only included those in arts and entertainment, but also people working in science and technology as well as knowledge-based professions such as healthcare, law, business, and finance.  Fast forward to 2022 and Professor Florida has written an updated report on the creative classes although he and his team now identify a different type of individual who is taking full advantage of the growth in digital platforms, social media, and online marketplaces.  Such ‘creators’ are defined as those who use digital technology to make and publish unique creative content, whether in the form of video, film, art, music, design, text, games, or any other media that audiences can access and respond to.  They ...
Read more

THE FUTURE FOR SILICON VALLEY

During the last twenty years, there have been many academics, politicians and policymakers (including yours truly) who have looked over to the innovation developed in Silicon Valley, California and wondered if we could ever emulate that success here in Wales. Whilst the former First Minister Rhodri Morgan proposed only last week that South Wales could become the “UK’s answer to Silicon Valley”, he is not alone in the world with such a suggestion for his local area. With imitation often being the sincerest form of flattery, many others regions across the globe have tried to emulate the ‘secret sauce’ that has led to this small valley to the South East of San Francisco becoming the seedbed for world-leading companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Apple and Google. But after fifty years of success, can it maintain its position as the premier location for innovation in the World? This is a question that its own business community has recently been asking itself. This has culminated in a...
Read more