A planned 10% rise in business rates for London companies will ;bleed the capital of hundreds of millions of pounds;, Boris Johnson, the mayor, has warned.
A government revaluation of business rates is set to impose rises averaging 10% before inflation on London’s companies over the next five years, while almost all other regions will see cuts in rates.
Companies in the east Midlands are expected to receive a cut of 10%, while those in the West Midlands will see an average reduction of 7%. The south-west is the only other region due for an increase when new rateable values start to take effect next April.
Though the rates will be phased in over four years, the mayor said that the rate rise would hit London businesses at the worst possible time as they struggled to emerge from recession.
Financial Times
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