Business Rates and the Recession

Looking around the House, I do not see many hon. Members—if any—who were present when this measure went through. The key word is "uniform", and the distinction is that this is now a national taxation at the command of central Government. As a result, it does not reflect the two important features of rates that have been key for all their 400 years—less 20 years—of history. That is, that the money was at the disposal of local authorities to compensate for the nature of business in their areas, and that it therefore flowed to those areas around the country—market towns, for example—that encouraged business. This uniform thing merely makes the tax divisive across the country, and thus very different by nature from what preceded it.