Labour to scrap business rates for fairer system

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced that Labour will cut, and eventually entirely scrap, business rates, replacing them with a new system of business taxation ‘fit for the 21st century’.

At the Labour Party Conference, the opposition party said that it would set up an Office for Value for Money to tackle government waste and introduce a new set of fiscal rules to get a handle on public finances, as part of their mission to tax fairly, spend wisely and get the economy firing on all cylinders.

Reeves said that the party would shift the burden of business taxes to create a level playing field, slamming the current system under the Conservatives as one that punishes investment, entrepreneurships and the high street.

Instead, Labour will move forward on tax reform with three key pillars determining their approach: tax fairness, tax efficiency, and shifting the burden of business tax.

Reeves said: “Our high street businesses do so much to enrich our lives and our communities, facing huge adversity in the past year. They are struggling right now, with a cliff-edge in rates relief coming up in March. The next Labour government will scrap business rates. We will carry out the biggest overhaul of business taxation in a generation, so our businesses can lead the pack, not watch opportunities go elsewhere.

“And here is our guarantee: the system we replace it with will incentivise investment, feature more frequent revaluations, and instant reductions in bills where property values fall, reward businesses that move into empty premises, encourage, not penalise, green improvements to businesses, and no public services or local authorities will lose out from these changes.

“Labour’s approach will be based on working together, with businesses, workers and public bodies all pulling together in a national endeavour to rebuild Britain and to seize the opportunities of the future.”