London\u2019s businesses will be forced to hand over an extra \u00a34 billion in tax over the next five years in an unprecedented raid on the capital\u2019s \u201ccash cow\u201d economy.<\/p>\n
The impact will start to be felt next April, when business rate bills for thousands of companies across the capital will rocket following last month\u2019s Government revaluation.<\/p>\n
An analysis for the Evening Standard suggests the extra burden for London could be as much as \u00a3885 million a year, although the increases will be phased in.<\/p>\n
The West End and City will see some of the steepest hikes, with the bills of some businesses going up fivefold by 2020, and the annual total for these areas rising by \u00a3500 million.<\/p>\n
Experts warned the increases could devastate small shops, bars and restaurants that are already reeling from soaring rents.<\/p>\n
They added that the extra costs would be passed on to consumers in the form of even higher prices \u2014 in what is already the country\u2019s most expensive place to live.<\/p>\n
Jerry Schurder, head of business rates at consultants Gerald Eve, which carried out the analysis, said: \u201cYet again, the Government is treating London\u2019s businesses as a cash cow.<\/p>\n
“Even prior to the revaluation London paid far more in rates than any other region, but now firms in the capital have to find an extra \u00a34 billion between them over the next five years; ultimately, it is likely to be customers that pay through higher prices.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that for many businesses the extra rate burden \u201ccould be the difference between trading profitably and going out of business.<\/p>\n
“Government should be wary of killing the golden goose, as these rises risk doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
High-profile businesses that will have to find huge extra sums include Queens Park Rangers and Crystal Palace, according to surveyor CVS, as well as Harrods, Selfridges and John Lewis.<\/p>\n
Separate borough breakdowns from property adviser Colliers International show that revenues raised from Westminster businesses will go up \u00a3300 million \u2014 from \u00a32.12 billion to \u00a32.45 billion \u2014 while the City\u2019s bill will rise by about \u00a3250 million, from \u00a31.02 billion to \u00a31.26 billion.<\/p>\n
Neighbourhoods of the capital that will be particularly hard-hit include Marylebone and Brixton.<\/p>\n
For most firms the rises will be phased in, with a 45 per cent ceiling in the first year and 50 per cent in April 2018.<\/p>\n
However, the \u201crelief\u201d is much less generous than for previous revaluations. Figures from the Government\u2019s Valuation Office Agency show that London has just 16.2 per cent of England\u2019s rateable properties, but accounts for 32.1 per cent of its total rateable value.<\/p>\n
Vin Vara, who is head of the British Independent Retailers Association and runs nine Tool Shop stores in central London, said his rates bill had risen \u00a347,610, up 38 per cent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll businesses will count the cost. We will have to look at streamlining our workforce. It\u2019s a terrible kick in the teeth and there\u2019s no doubt London is being targeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way rates are calculated has to be reformed or it will be the death knell for many independent businesses in London.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chemist Mahesh Soneji, 57, who has run Madesil Pharmacie in Marylebone High Street for 16 years, faces his business rates doubling to \u00a3160,000. He has also seen his rent rise from \u00a3117,000 to \u00a3180,000 in five years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Business rates are another tax we don\u2019t need and we certainly don\u2019t see the benefit. We don\u2019t see more police or a crackdown on shoplifters.<\/p>\n
“We would ask the authorities to look again at the way rates are calculated as it is unfair.There\u2019s no doubt businesses will have to close.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes me worry about the future, it will be a struggle to pay. There may be casualties to members of staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali Bridarbahkt, 40, operations manager at family-owned Persian restaurant Galleria in New Cavendish Street, said his rates could double to just under \u00a340,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt comes out of the profits as you can\u2019t just put up prices,\u201d he said. \u201cI just hope what they are saying we will be charged is reconsidered. New restaurants, like so many already in the area, will struggle to stay open.<\/p>\n
“We expect another rent increase which will make things even more difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Department for Communities and Local Government said: \u201cFirms need to be confident that the rates they pay are accurate and fair, no matter where they are in country, and these updates will give them that reassurance.<\/p>\n
“Nearly three quarters of companies will see no change, or even a fall, in bills, including 600,000 who from next April will have their bills cut altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor those ratepayers facing in-creases, London will benefit more than anywhere else in the country from the transitional relief scheme with almost \u00a31 billion of support over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 140,000 properties in London will benefit from transitional relief, of which over 100,000 were small properties, the DCLG said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“We certainly don’t see the benefit. We don\u2019t see more police or a crackdown on shoplifters.”<\/em><\/p>\n Marylebone chemist Chemist Mahesh Soneji<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" London\u2019s businesses will be forced to hand over an extra \u00a34 billion in tax over the next five years in an unprecedented raid on the capital\u2019s \u201ccash cow\u201d economy. The impact will start to be felt next April, when business rate bills for thousands of companies across the capital will rocket following last month\u2019s Government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9PjAq-Ep","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2505\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poseidon-gp.com\/property\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}