Delay in revising business tariffs “Insult” companies

The Chancellor was accused of “insulting” struggling companies when he delayed revising the “broken” business tariff system until later this year.

A “fundamental” review of the tax, widely seen as extremely detrimental to the high street, won’t be released until the fall – a year later than promised.

Rishi Sunak blamed the delay on economic uncertainty, but critics condemned the “weak apology” and said the decision “exposed the lack of ideas from the Treasury Department.”

The decision came into sharp focus when the Bureau of National Statistics revealed the cost of the lockdown. Retail sales were reported to be 8.2 percent lower in January compared to the previous month as stores counted the cost of the lockdown.

Last month’s slump wasn’t as severe as the initial lockdown, but retail sales remained 5.5 percent lower than before the pandemic. Helen Dickinson, executive director of the British Retail Consortium, said: “While Covid may close stores, it is the burden of business rates that is closing too many of them for good.

“Delays in reforming a broken system mean unnecessary job losses and years of decline in our local communities.

“The government has to stick to its own schedule.”

Jerry Schurder, director of business rates at real estate consultancy Gerald Eve, said, “This looks like Rishi Sunak’s” damn business moment. “It’s quite simply an insult to struggling businesses. ‘