Business rates relief motion fails

Mar 13 2013

Opposition parties have failed in a last-ditch effort to stop a cut in business rates relief.

Business will soon be liable for 90% of the full rateable value on a property if it lies empty for more than three months, compared with 50% under the previous rules.

The Scottish Government hopes the levy will encourage businesses to bring empty properties back into use and expect it to generate an extra £18 million for the Scottish budget.

The levy was debated for the final time at Holyrood's Local Government Committee on Wednesday morning.

It is necessary to balance the books and revitalise town centres, according to local government minister Derek Mackay, who acknowledged that "nobody likes paying more taxes".

The charge is "voluntary" as businesses can avoid it by letting out their premises, SNP MSP Stewart Stevenson said.

But businesses have already cut rents "to the bone", according to Conservative local government spokeswoman Margaret Mitchell, who described the change as "an extended penalty on already hard-pressed businesses".

The committee's two Labour MSPs backed Ms Mitchell's motion to annul the levy but they were outvoted by four SNP MSPs.

Ms Mitchell said: "Asserting that this rate relief cut will be an incentive shows just how out of touch the SNP Government is. Don't they realise people are cutting rental income to the bone to try and rent out empty properties?"

But Mr Mackay said: " We do have to balance the books. The silence was deafening during the budget debate on what other parties would do to balance the books. I didn't hear any substitute finance for the £18 million we think we will realise in terms of this particular budget saving."