Local Council Tax for business - a novel idea

August 9th, 2007

Rumours abound of a potential for local authorities to charge an additional local element of council tax to businesses, in order to fund local infrastructure projects.

I don’t think that all those that were around at the time when business rates were set locally are dead yet. And so, you have to ask how we’ve gone from a locally set rate, subsequently argued as unfair and biased and so equalised across the Country through introduction of a Uniform Business Rate, back to what is essentially a locally set rate. This would not be the first occasion in history when the public sector has gone full-circle in a decade. In fact, it’s par for the course.

A cynic might argue that this is Central government dumping on local government to collect and spend revenue that would otherwise have been funded centrally.

An optimist might suggest that this is simply a more effective way of achieving improvement to local infrastructure.

A businessman might argue that there’s a limit to how much small and medium-sized businesses in this Country can sustain in terms of overall taxation.

A politician might argue that he can’t hear the other arguments. 

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