Mark Prisk is MP for Hertford and Stortford and a shadow minister for business and enterprise. Here he explains how making business rate relief automatic for eligible small businesses in England would help thousands of small firms.
Business rates are universally unpopular with firms. They are often the third most significant overhead, and are fixed, regardless of how well or badly a business is doing. So in a recession, business rates can help push a firm over the edge.
Small businesses feel the pinch most. And as many point out to me, they get nothing in return for their rates, not even their bins emptied.
That’s why I have been campaigning to help small business get relief from the burden of rates. Last year we dedicated a section of the party's website to helping small firms claim up to £1,100 relief.
Amazingly, half of the eligible firms weren’t claiming this relief. Why? Well most businesses I spoke to told me that they either didn’t know it existed, or had found the red tape too much.
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