Businesses have accused the UK government of imposing a fresh “stealth tax” and breaking a manifesto promise to reform business rates.
Labour’s general election manifesto pledged to address long-running criticism of the business rates system and level the playing field between the high street and online players. Instead, the Treasury has made several changes to business rates that businesses say make the levy even more complex and add significant extra costs for some businesses while leaving the threat of even higher bills in the future.
The government is set to receive ￡37bn in business rates in 2026-27, making it the seventh-biggest single revenue generator for the Treasury behind income tax, national insurance contributions, VAT, excise duties, corporation tax and council tax. Revenues from business rates will swell to ￡42bn by 2030, OBR documents have shown.