Business rates system

 Business rate system holds back SMEs

Mike Cherry, policy director at the FSB, has clarified the group’s national position on business rates. He says business rates are the third-biggest expense for many SMEs after rents and wages, and “no one with business in mind would design it as it currently stands.” In response, the FSB nationally has called for a new competitive, light-touch business tax framework. “As a first step, small companies want to see the temporary doubling of small business rate relief made permanent,” report Harris & Co accountants Northampton, the specialist small business accountants