About this episode

The episode discusses the complexities and misconceptions surrounding business rates and their impact on Britain's high streets.

Business rates have long been blamed for the decline of Britain’s high streets. Shops and pubs face large bills, while online retailers can operate from cheaper out-of-town warehouses. So surely cutting business rates would help? Not necessarily. Helen Miller is joined by IFS tax expert Stuart Adam and Observer economics editor Ben Zaranko to explain why business rates are widely misunderstood. They discuss who really bears the cost of the tax, why cutting rates could simply lead to higher rents, whether pubs and high streets deserve special treatment, and how a growing patchwork of reliefs and exemptions has made the system increasingly complicated. They also ask what is actually wrong with business rates - and why taxing land rather than the buildings sitting on it might offer a better solution. Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership Find out more: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Helen Miller

Guests: Stuart Adam, Ben Zaranko

Topics covered

• business rates
• high street decline
• taxation
• economic policy
• retail challenges
• land taxation

Keywords

• business rates
• high street
• tax
• retail
• economic decline
• land taxation
• exemptions
• reliefs

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Institute for Fiscal Studies

Places: Britain, high streets, out-of-town warehouses, land

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