There was in interesting article in the Grauniad yesterday on the impact that the revaluation of business rates is to have on the shopkeepers of Southwold.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/201...omment-94629787As you know, I'm a regular visitor to the town, collecting ale from the Adnams brewery. The place is up in arms, and I don't blame them. The average increase in business rates there is to be of the order of 177%. As things stand, Southwold High Street has a pleasant mix of shops, many of them independent, which is one of the attractions of the town for tourists. All over the country we hear complaints of the disappearance of small shops and the preponderance of national chain outlets, pound stores and the like. This sort of rate increase may well drive some of these shops out of the town and others out of business.
To me it seems pretty bizarre that small businesses are effectively being punished for a property boom in their town; surely some sort of tax on the profits of the company rather than on the theoretical rental value of the property it occupies would be fairer. If anything, the property boom has made life more difficult for shopkeepers outside of the holiday season, with 57% of the properties now second homes or holiday lets. All very well during the summer, but Southwold is pretty quiet during the week at other times. House price inflation in the town has put housing completely beyond the reach of young local people; even the head brewer can't afford to live there !!
Southwold is not alone in this. Many seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall suffer the same problems.
Local taxation is surely an area which should be more in the hands of local government than decided in Westminster. It would seem more appropriate to allow them decide for example to charge double or treble rates on second homes, maybe with exceptions for holiday lets which bring in tourists rather than whacking the local shopkeepers.
