Sector leaders have joined calls by the powerful All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group (APPBG) who have today called on the Government to address the business rate iniquity threatening the future of pubs and their communities while online giants continue to avoid the taxman.
Kate Nicholls, the CEO of UKHospitality, has this morning welcomed the call:
“Business rates in its current form is a fundamentally unfair tax for pubs and the wider hospitality sector. It actively works against Government’s levelling up agenda by suppressing and deterring investment in skills and local communities.
“In order to safeguard jobs and businesses, and to support a fully recovered and thriving hospitality sector, business rates must be reformed, with a fairer system that does not disproportionately penalise businesses that bring people together and create jobs. There must also be a fully functioning infrastructure to ensure that valuations are accurate and that appeals are accessible.
“More widely, the pubs and hospitality sector needs a fairer tax system. These businesses, when compared to other sectors, are significantly overtaxed, which stifles investment, growth and jobs creation.”
Emma McClarkin, Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association said:
“The current business rates system places disproportionate burden on pubs and brewers which is stifling their recovery and return to sustainable growth. Reform is needed to create a fair system which accounts for how the economy functions in the modern day.
“We welcome this timely report from the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group following our submission to its inquiry, and hope its recommendations are seriously considered by the Chancellor ahead of this week’s Spring Statement. Pubs and brewers are at the heart of our communities and will help to foster social cohesion as we reconnect and recover from the pandemic, and so now it is critical that our sector receives the support it needs so we can deliver jobs and additional economic value across the UK, to ensure the entire country is levelled up.”
