Government pressured to restore empty property tax relief

Pressure is growing on the Government to reverse a decision that has seen businesses hit with higher taxes on empty commercial properties.

Until a year ago, owners of empty business premises paid just half of their business rates bill, and industrial units attracted 100% relief.

But since 1 April 2008, many businesses have been liable for the full amount, and now the British Property Federation (BPF) has launched a website urging the Government to restore relief for empty properties.

With the support of several major business lobby groups, emptyrates.com aims to catalogue the effects of the tax on landlords and businesses, and encourage users to put pressure on their local MP over the issue.

Pressure exerted by business lobby groups appeared to make an impact last autumn. In a concession announced during November's Pre-Budget Report, all empty properties with rateable values up to £15,000 were made eligible for full relief in 2009-10.

However, the BPF says that the exemption only helps 13% of total business rate payers, not the 70% Chancellor Alistair Darling claimed last year.

Liz Peace, chief executive of the BPF, said: "Any tax take which increases as income goes down is fundamentally wrong. Empty rates isn't just hitting big firms, it's hitting individuals, killing off people's investments and reducing the economy's capacity to recover.

"Demolitions will continue, new investment won't happen and the misery of thousands of hard-working individuals will be heightened."

An HM Treasury spokesperson told More Than Business News: "The Government is listening carefully to the concerns being expressed and as with all taxes they will keep the position under review."