Question reference: S5W-25137
- Asked by: Bill Bowman, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 5 September 2019
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Current status: Answered by Kate Forbes on 19 September 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s call for a timetabled plan to lower the business rates burden, as set out in its submission on the 2020-21 budget.
Answer
The Scottish Government is committed to a fair and sustainable non-domestic rates system. In 2019-20 we increased the poundage by below the Consumer Price Index, which ensures that over 90 per cent of properties in Scotland pay a lower poundage than they would in other parts of the UK. We also offer the most generous package of non-domestic rates reliefs anywhere in the UK, worth an estimated £750 million in 2019-20, including measures that are unique in the UK such as the Business Growth Accelerator.