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Business Rate Supplements Bill
5:15 pm
John Healey (Minister of State (Local Government), Department for Communities and Local Government; Wentworth, Labour)
The clause sets out who is liable to pay the BRS. It provides that any person who is liable to pay non-domestic rates for a property is liable also to pay a BRS, subject to certain important exceptions. Crucially, the clause provides that a person is not liable for a BRS if the rateable value of their property does not exceed the amount prescribed by the Secretary of State in regulations made under clause 12. We made it clear in the October 2007 White Paper, and it remains clear, that we intend to set that threshold at £50,000 rateable value. In addition, liability for the BRS does not apply to owners of empty properties where there is a zero liability for non-domestic rates, particularly charities and community amateur sports clubs, or if the levying authority, under the powers given to it in the Bill, has exempted owners of empty properties from the BRS.
Subsections (4) and (5) provide the technical basis for determining the BRS. They explain that it is done by calculating the amount for each day of the year on which the ratepayer will be liable for the BRS and totalling those daily liabilities. Subsection (6) defines the chargeable period for a BRS as the period for which the supplement is imposed. Crucially, subsection (6)(b) prevents the chargeable period starting before the day on which the supplement is introduced; that will prevent retrospective liability accruing before that day. Subsection (7) limits the length of the chargeable period to that specified in the final prospectus unless the period has been extended in accordance with clause 10.
I shall leave it at that, Mr. Atkinson. I hope that the Committee will agree to the clause standing part of the Bill.