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Written Question
Business Rates
Monday 23rd January 2023

Asked by: Anthony Browne (Conservative - South Cambridgeshire)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the impact of business rates tax on online shops.

Answered by Victoria Atkins - Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

At Autumn Statement 2022, the Government announced a package of changes and tax cuts worth almost £13.6 billion over the next five years, including:

  • a freeze to the business rates multiplier for 2023-24, a tax cut worth £9.3 billion over the next 5 years, meaning all bills are 6 per cent lower than without the freeze;
  • an Exchequer funded Transitional Relief scheme worth £1.6 billion to protect an estimated 700,000 ratepayers facing bill increases due to increases in rateable value. The Government has announced that it will permanently scrap ‘downwards caps’ which had restricted falling bills in previous schemes. This will benefit around 300,000 ratepayers who will see their full bill decrease from April 2023.
  • an increased 75 per cent relief for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties, up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business for 2023-24. This is a tax cut worth over £2 billion for around 230,000 RHL businesses, to support the high street and protect small shops.
  • providing over £500 million of support over the next three years with a new Supporting Small Business. This will cap bill increases to £50 per month (£600 per year) for businesses losing some or all of their Small Business or Rural Rate Relief due to the revaluation.

Together with the revaluation, this package ensures bills will more accurately reflect current market values whilst protecting businesses from large bill increases.

Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 30 Nov 2022
Finance Bill

"I feel that I should first explain why I have a teddy bear on the Bench beside me, because various people have been making eyes at me. The bear is the prize for my Christmas card competition. As I am en route between the gift shop and having a photograph …..."
Anthony Browne - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 30 Nov 2022
Finance Bill

"I am well aware of how fiscal drag works. I have been studying it, reporting on it and commenting on it for about 20 years. My point was that, as the amendment is worded, the person would have become liable to pay the base rate of income tax when they …..."
Anthony Browne - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 30 Nov 2022
Finance Bill

"When the current Prime Minister, then Chancellor, initially froze the tax thresholds in the Budget earlier this year, he was very transparent; he said upfront that the Government were freezing the thresholds. He wanted to make sure that no one could accuse him of introducing a stealth tax rise. Previously …..."
Anthony Browne - View Speech

View all Anthony Browne (Con - South Cambridgeshire) contributions to the debate on: Finance Bill
Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 30 Nov 2022
Finance Bill

"I thank the Minister for that positive and constructive response. I would be absolutely delighted, and I know that the industry would be delighted, to sit down with her urgently in the next few weeks to go through the different options.

My last comment on the R&D tax credits is …..."
Anthony Browne - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Nov 2022
Finance Bill

"It is a pleasure to speak at the back end of the debate following so many fascinating contributions from the Government and Opposition Benches. I particularly enjoyed the comments from the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Ealing North (James Murray), positioning Labour as the party of small business. I …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 28 Nov 2022
Finance Bill

"Absolutely. Many companies in my constituency and publicly funded institutes are doing research on those diseases. That is critical to people living healthy lives as well as to the economy, and the Government are absolutely right to support it.

The sudden cutting in half of research and development tax relief …..."
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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Nov 2022
Autumn Statement Resolutions

"The right hon. Gentleman has welcomed every single increase in spending in the autumn statement, and in some cases, as he has just said, he wants spending to be increased even further, yet he has also attacked several of the tax rises. Will he explain whether he wants other taxes …..."
Anthony Browne - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Nov 2022
Autumn Statement Resolutions

"Does my right hon. Friend agree not just that spending on the NHS is at the highest level in cash terms and real terms, but that as a proportion of GDP it has never been higher in this country? Our Government spend one of the highest rates of GDP on …..."
Anthony Browne - View Speech

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Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 21 Nov 2022
Autumn Statement Resolutions

"I very much welcome this carefully crafted and carefully balanced autumn statement. I welcome the fact that, at its heart, its No. 1 priority is balancing the books. The reason that is so important is shown by chart 19 of the OBR report, if people read it, which shows that …..."
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