New tax on initiatives in the countryside
4:43pm Friday 11th April 2008
Enterprise in the countryside will be stifled and unlisted buildings put at risk due to an additional tax, rural economy expert, the CLA, has warned Welsh Assembly Government Heritage Minister, Rhodri Glyn Thomas.
Presteigne-based CLA Wales director Julian Salmon says the Rating (Empty Properties) Act 2007 removed exemptions from empty property rates from April 1, with the effect that landowners and farmers who have sought a change of use in the hope of supplementing income from agriculture will now lose money. “People now need to be much more certain that they are going to be able to consistently let these buildings where the use has been changed from agricultural to commercial,” added Mr Salmon.
“In my view, the government has scored a major own goal through the rates levy on empty property. This will merely stifle diversification in rural Wales, where the investment and employment associated with new business is so critical to the rural economy.
“It’s also a failure of the devolution process because the Welsh Assembly government was incapable of setting its own policy on this issue. If it wasn’t so serious I’d say this was a very poor April Fool joke.” In his letter to Rhodri Glyn Thomas, the CLA say the implications of the new act include the following: Owners will be deterred from speculative development without significant pre-lets.
Investment, if any, will be concentrated in areas of demand (again, I suggest not rural Wales). Prospering businesses may be forced to delay expansion plans with fewer properties to choose from.
The pressure to abandon or demolish buildings will inevitably increase.
The additional tax burden on business can only damage the flexibility and competitiveness of the Welsh economy.