Petition Any increase in Business Rates should match the Government’s target for Council Tax increases (i.e. nil).

We the undersigned demand that any increase in National Non Domestic Rates (Business Rates) should be no higher than the Government’s target rate of increase for the Council Tax. If the Government has identified that households cannot bear an increase why does it think that businesses can? The Government should follow its own advice and target a zero increase in Business Rates.

National Non Domestic Rates are, by the Government’s own standards, inherently unfair as they bear no relation to a business’s ability to pay. At a time when the Government is looking to small businesses to lead the country out of recession the 5.6% increase in rates has a disproportionate, negative affect on the economy.