Sir Terry Leahy calls for business rates to be reformed or scrapped
Former Tesco chief executive Sir Terry Leahy has called for the UK business rates system to be completely reformed or scrapped and started again.
In an interview with the BBC, Sir Terry said the present system was an “ancient tax based on the value of physical buildings” which had not worked for years.
He also said that in a “modern digital economy” the economy worked in “a different way” and therefore he would suggest scrapping the current system and starting again. He added that if there had to be a tax then it needed to go across all businesses.
Sir Terry’s comments follows the launch of the British Retail Consortium’s Road to Reform report last week in which it put forward ideas for fundamental changes to the business rates system. These included replacing the current tax system with a tax based on alternative measures such as energy use, and introducing a simplified, banded revaluation system with revaluations on a more regular basis.
