PLANS TO levy large retail stores in Scotland are scrapped as Parliament blocks move
A proposed tax on large retailers that would have cost the industry £30m has been dropped by the Scottish Parliament.
The Scottish Large Retailer Levy would have applied to all stores with a rateable value of more than £750,000. It would have been applied to only 225 stores in Scotland and was estimated to increase business rate bills by 30% for some stores.
The tax was due to be implemented in April, but the Scottish Parliament voted to block it on 2 February.
Scottish finance secretary John Swinney said: “It is very disappointing that Parliament did not support the view that those with the broadest shoulders should bear more of the burden at a time when Westminster has slashed Scotland’s budget by £1.3bn.”
But Fiona Moriarty, a director of the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC), welcomed the Scottish Parliament’s decision: “The levy would have cost the country far more in long-term damage to investment than it would ever have raised.”
(Picture: © Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body – 2010)