Small Businesses: Business Rates
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has considered reducing taxation such as business rates for small businesses liable for Extended Producer Responsibility.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson
The Government believes it is right that the costs of dealing with household packaging waste are moved away from taxpayers and onto the businesses that place packaging on the market. The Government has designed the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme to be proportionate, with the smallest producers exempt and small producers subject only to light-touch requirements. The government engaged extensively with businesses over many years on the design of EPR and is continuing to do so through its implementation.
The Government has also extended Small Business Rates Relief (SBRR) to support small businesses to grow and expand, by giving them an additional two years of SBRR when they open a second premise. Around a third of properties already pay no business rates as they receive 100 per cent SBRR, with an additional 85,000 benefiting from reduced bills as this relief tapers. SMEs in rural areas may also be eligible for Rural Rates Relief if they meet certain conditions.
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