Councils must have powers on non-domestic rates

Today, I have published a consultation that that will help inform the Scottish Greens’ scrutiny of the Non-Domestic Rates (Scotland) Bill

This Bill is the first ever primary legislation in the history of devolution dealing with the non-domestic rating system – a system responsible for raising the second largest total revenue of all devolved taxes. So this is an important opportunity to present your thoughts on we can reform this taxation system.

Although the preceding Barclay Review explored and made recommendations on the non-domestic rates system, its remit was narrowly focussed and the resulting Bill presents a selection of rather disparate provisions.

As such, we propose tabling a number of amendments at Stage 2 of the Bill, which will seek to enhance transparency, provide greater accountability and augment the current system with a robust form of taxation that will strengthen local government.

You can read the consultation here and send comments to me by 20 September 2019 via here