Business rate cuts won't help the high street

Responding to new recommendations on cutting business rates from the Retail Sector Council, Daniel Pryor, Head of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute, said:

“There are no economists on the Retail Sector Council committee—and it shows. Business rate cuts are a sop to landlords and do nothing to adapt to the fact that fewer of us are working, living or traveling to the high street. Landlords have reacted to previous rate cuts by increasing rents and within a few years any savings for businesses evaporated. 

“Funding this misguided policy through corporation tax hikes will subsidise landlords while punishing companies that have been the backbone of the British jobs miracle. Hiking taxes now would hurt jobs, growth and investment across the country: all for very little benefit.”