By Keith Aitken in Edinburgh | 1 November 2012
The Scottish Parliament has voted to slash rates relief on empty properties in the teeth of bitter opposition from business leaders.
MSPs agreed to reduce the business rates discount on unoccupied properties from 50% to 10%, with the aim of encouraging businesses to let out unused buildings.
The Local Government Finance (Unoccupied Properties etc) Bill, which completed its parliamentary passage yesterday, also scraps a 10% council tax discount on empty domestic properties and allows councils to double the tax rate on them to bring vacant housing back into use.
Business leaders claimed that the rates rise, estimated at £18m, would increase business costs at an economically adverse time, and that most businesses with surplus premises were already trying to get rid of them.
CBI Scotland called the reform ‘a tax on distress’, while the Scottish Property Federation said it was a major blow to businesses and investors. Garry Clark of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said: ‘We all want to see vacant premises brought back into use, but this is not the way to go about it.’
Local Government and Planning Minister Derek Mackay told MSPs that the Scottish Government retains the ‘most competitive business rates regime in the UK’, thanks to its Small Business Bonus Scheme, which provides rates relief for smaller firms.
But Labour’s Sarah Boyack argued that, while the sums involved might seem small to ministers, they were a serious imposition on businesses: ‘These proposals will create major problems for them as they struggle through these tough economic times,’ she said. ‘For some businesses, it will simply mean the last straw.’
Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said that the charge would also fall on ‘several hundred’ public sector buildings, and accused ministers of failing to conduct a sufficient impact assessment or consultation on the reforms. The bill to public bodies could exceed £3m, he claimed.
For the Liberal Democrats, Jim Hume said: ‘There is no evidence that this Bill will have any impact, except for a negative one. It is in business’s interest to let out empty properties.’
But the Greens’ Patrick Harvie said the measure would give hope to small businesses, such as independent retailers, which are ‘struggling to get a foothold in our town centres’.
The Scottish Parliament has voted to slash rates relief on empty properties in the teeth of bitter opposition from business leaders.
MSPs agreed to reduce the business rates discount on unoccupied properties from 50% to 10%, with the aim of encouraging businesses to let out unused buildings.
The Local Government Finance (Unoccupied Properties etc) Bill, which completed its parliamentary passage yesterday, also scraps a 10% council tax discount on empty domestic properties and allows councils to double the tax rate on them to bring vacant housing back into use.
Business leaders claimed that the rates rise, estimated at £18m, would increase business costs at an economically adverse time, and that most businesses with surplus premises were already trying to get rid of them.
CBI Scotland called the reform ‘a tax on distress’, while the Scottish Property Federation said it was a major blow to businesses and investors. Garry Clark of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce said: ‘We all want to see vacant premises brought back into use, but this is not the way to go about it.’
Local Government and Planning Minister Derek Mackay told MSPs that the Scottish Government retains the ‘most competitive business rates regime in the UK’, thanks to its Small Business Bonus Scheme, which provides rates relief for smaller firms.
But Labour’s Sarah Boyack argued that, while the sums involved might seem small to ministers, they were a serious imposition on businesses: ‘These proposals will create major problems for them as they struggle through these tough economic times,’ she said. ‘For some businesses, it will simply mean the last straw.’
Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said that the charge would also fall on ‘several hundred’ public sector buildings, and accused ministers of failing to conduct a sufficient impact assessment or consultation on the reforms. The bill to public bodies could exceed £3m, he claimed.
For the Liberal Democrats, Jim Hume said: ‘There is no evidence that this Bill will have any impact, except for a negative one. It is in business’s interest to let out empty properties.’
But the Greens’ Patrick Harvie said the measure would give hope to small businesses, such as independent retailers, which are ‘struggling to get a foothold in our town centres’.
