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Business Rate Supplements Bill

With the leave of the House, I shall respond briefly to some of the points raised in the debate, but I shall begin by reiterating a principle. Many hon. Members have spoken about fairness this afternoon, and the principle is that a tax system such as business rates must be equitable to all. Any solution to a perceived injustice must not confer a disadvantage on other taxpayers who have paid and who were billed on time. Prior to the ports review, some 1,600 separately assessed properties were liable for rates from 1 April 2005. My hon. Friend the Member for Great Grimsby (Mr. Mitchell) said that separate assessments were introduced in 2005, but that is not correct. The principle of separate assessment has been a long-standing feature of the rating system, and goes back as far as 1936.