Allowing local authorities to retain business rates exposes them to risk if revenues fall. Neil Amin-Smith of the IFS considers how this risk might play out between county and district councils - and...
Liability for business rates should be extended to private schools, universities and local authority arms-length operations, an independent review of non-domestic local taxation in Scotland has...
Whitehall has called on software firms to provide updated programmes to local councils so they can grant new levels of business rate relief to small businesses.
There were no big surprises in this Budget and little sense of any solutions to intractable policy problems. The chancellor should beware of trying to micromanage from the centre
Local authorities are to share a £300m pot for discretionary business rate reliefs to help firms facing higher bills due to next month’s revaluation of the levy, chancellor Philip Hammond...
April’s business rate revaluation will see £400m transferred from London councils to authorities in the North, according to an analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
Local government secretary Sajid Javid has indicated that the government will move to provide additional support for firms most affected by April’s business rates revaluation, but also insisted he...
Local government secretary Sajid Javid has defended the government’s revaluation of business rates, stating that thousands of businesses across the country will get lower bills as a result of...
Small business have urged chancellor Philip Hammond to use next month’s Budget to provide them with transition support amid mounting concerns about the impact of April’s business rate...
The government is considering introducing a partial reset of the business rates localisation system every five years once the £12.5bn of revenue is devolved to local authorities from April 2019.
The government should postpone forthcoming increases in business rates until the UK has left the European Union in order to protect businesses at a time of economic uncertainty, according to one...
More pilots of full business rates retention have been announced, but it is difficult to see localisation as a sustainable funding model for local government
The year of 2016 saw many seismic changes, but ministers' approach to local government finance has remained the same. This has increased the risk that town hall’s two main revenue streams – council...
County and district finance chiefs are to meet later this month to consider a potential change to the split in business rates revenue once the tax is fully localised to local government.
County and metropolitan councils have been the biggest losers from the switch away from grants to 50% local business rates retention, according to Institute for Fiscal Studies research for the Local...
The West Midlands is set to join the areas across England that will pilot full business rates retention ahead of the national rollout of the scheme in 2020, after Birmingham City Council indicated...
Councils could face financial uncertainty from a renewed round of appeals against business rate bills following revaluation next April, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.
Government plans for business rate localisation imply a major redistribution of resources on the first day of the scheme that could create financial uncertainty for councils in the rest of the decade...
Councils are being forced to write off millions of pounds of debt owed to them in business rates because of a loophole in licensing laws, the Local Government Association has said today.
County and district councils have called on the government to commit to providing additional funding for local services where demand outstrips business rate growth following the forthcoming...
Funding for public services will become “highly variable” in many county areas under government plans to make councils financially self-sufficient by the end of the decade, government has been warned.