End in sight for backdated UK port rates bills
‘The end game is very near’ for the backdated rates bills at ports says Andrew Finfer, the solicitor advising the dock rating groups that has been spearheading the attack on the UK Valuation Agency Office’s incompetent handling of the issue.
But the ‘end game’ may have effectively been the starting point for the new British Government.
For the last two years the Humber and Mersey Docks Rating Group has campaigned against sudden and massive backdated rates bills that were visited on port businesses by the Agency.
Mr Finfer has heard reports that it was the cooperation between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, both in the House of Lords where they defeated a government three line whip and back in the House of Commons, that helped to convince both parties they could work together. That result may have had a bearing on the outcome of negotiations for the recently formed government coalition following the General Election which saw no outright winner.
Mr Finfer has reason to be pleased. The Conservative manifesto says the party ‘will introduce an immediate freeze of, and enquiry into, the government’s punitive programme of backdating business rates on ports, while the Coalition Agreement mentions that a proportion of funds found from modest cuts can be used to support jobs through the cancelling of some backdated rates demands.
However, it’s not over yet, although it is hoped that the Department of Communities and Local Government will confirm that collection of the bills can be suspended without the local authorities being penalised. Mr Finfer adds that many port businesses have survived this trying time only because of the latitude given them by their local councils, who only pushed for collection of backdated rates when leant on very hard by the now departed Labour government.
He hopes a solution is found that is satisfactory to everybody, ‘When a mistake is made about liability to pay rates, the cost of rectifying the mistake should be borne by the person responsible for the mistake, whether it is the Valuation Office Agency or the ratepayer’, he says. This was, after all, the nub of the issue. The Valuation Office Agency did not publish accurate rating lists in 2005 and then suddenly and without warning demanded backdated business rates running to millions of pounds, leaving many port businesses stunned and facing insolvency.
Mr Finfer concluded, ‘It is a simple principle, and will lead to more effective tax collection. Businesses need to know what they owe, and be told all at the same time so no one gets an unfair advantage. We await the budget on 22 June with interest. Will this be the beginning of the end of this sorry saga?’
