The consultation was full of glossy waffle: The government is working to boost economic activity across the UK, levelling up towns, cities and regions across the country. As part of this, the government wants to establish Freeports, which have different customs rules than the rest of the country, that are innovative hubs, boost global trade, attract inward investment and increase productivity. In...

As the post-Brexit negotiations proceed, or, apparently, fail to proceed, fishing has emerged as a major topic of disagreement. Yet there could be a simple solution. British fishing grounds belong to the British people, not to British fishermen or British owners of fishing boats, or owners of fishing boats registered in British ports. The British people are entitled to the value of their fishing...

In view of the announcement of Business Rate reform in the Queen’s Speech, a potted summary of the imact of the tax on business property is presented here.

The Queen’s speech referred yesterday to reform of the business rate (the UBR). Mentioned in particular were in increase in the business rates retail discount from one-third to 50p, and revaluations every three years.

The changes in the business rate have attracted the ire of the Confederation of British Industry and the Federation of Small Businesses. Part of the trouble, not mentioned by the complainers, is due to the deferral of UBR valuations when George Osborne was Chancellor. However, the CBI and FSB are doing their members no favours by complaining about the UBR in isolation. It is total occupation costs...

The latest revisions to the UBR have brought about a wave of ill-informed comments in the press, even in publications such as the Financial Times, where one would expect journalists to be on top of the subject. The incidence of all property taxes is on the landlord. An increase in the UBR means that rental levels will drop, or rise less quickly than they would otherwise have done. This has been...

The Chancellor has plunged new depths of economic illiteracy with his changes to the business rate. The new threshold for small business rate relief will increase from £6,000 to £15,000. Business rates will also be linked to CPI, the official measure of inflation which has historically been lower than the RPI rate to which rates are currently linked. As always when property taxes are reduced, it...

The government is launching yet another review of the Business Rate system, which is allegedly a burden on small businesses. So are rents, but that cannot be mentioned. How many studies have there been since Layfield’s in 1976? In the meantime, the Chancellor could usefully look at what a study by Cambridge Econometrics, commissioned by the Treasury found when it looked at what happened when...

This list of the top 50 business rate bills published by the Guardian shows strikingly how heavily the UBR bears on capital rather than land. Power stations, steelworks, oil refineries and ports are amongst the hardest hit. Heathrow, at the top of the list, is paying for its location value, as are the other big city airports, but a surprising number operate on sites for which the LVT valuation would...

During the 1980s, the government introduced what were called Enterprise Zones, where no property tax was payable. The scheme was carefully monitored by consultants Cambridge Econometrics. The conclusion was “that 100% of the benefits from NNDR relief are passed into rents and therefore accrue to landlords although the range of uncertainty surrounding this statistical estimate puts the boundary...