Business rates hike could lead to a ‘ghost city’ (From York Press)

Business rates hike could lead to a ‘ghost city’

10:10am Monday 15th March 2010 in

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The headline “On the brink” (The Press, March 10) really struck a chord with me because it highlights how stupid things have become.

Like a medieval baron of the past demanding his will of the peasant stock, hiking business rates into the realms of extortion can only do harm to York. Many businesses like pubs and shops will keel over and sink into the abyss.

York should be a thriving, bustling city and this is what the tourist industry is trying to project, not boarded-up shop windows. It’s about time some plain common sense was displayed, or shall it be said “I went to visit York, but it was closed”?

Phil Shepherdson, Chantry Close, Woodthorpe, York.

• How can the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) set business rates from changes in the rental market?

This does not measure the performance of the business occupying that property and so does not reflect a rateable value.

A more accurate method would be to set the rateable value from the operating profit or loss of the business within pre-determined parameters.

This information could be obtained from accounts submitted to the Inland Revenue and then passed on to the VOA.

John Williamson, The Croft, Sheriff Hutton.