Plea to waive ‘stealth tax’

Oct 8 2008 by Tony McDonough, Liverpool Daily Post

CITY business lobby group Downtown Liverpool in Busi-ness (DLIB) is urging local authorities across Merseyside to waive the empty property tax to help firms get through the credit crunch.

In April, changes to Empty Property Rate Relief forced busi-nesses to pay rates on empty buildings.

The move by the Treasury has met with widespread opposition in the property industry, and more than 30 MPs in Parliament signed an Early Day Motion against the tax.

There have even been reports of commercial property owners finding it more cost-effective to demolish their buildings, rather than pay the levy.

Last month, the Forum of Private Business said scrap-ping of the relief was adding further press-ure to a beleaguered commercial property sector.

That view has now been echoed by DLIB chairman Frank McKenna, who is asking local councils to give the sector a helping hand.

He told LDP Business: “We have always been against this stealth tax, but during times of an economic downturn, the imposition of this cost is having a massive impact on business.

“We are hearing stories about good properties being demolished simply because owners are unable to pay this tax, while other building schemes have been stopped, resulting in further job losses in the construction sector.

“Ideally, we would like to see the Govern-ment scrap the empty property levy. How-ever, in the absence of action at a national level, we are calling on local authorities across the Liverpool city region to use their discretion to waive the tax for the foreseeable future.”