Question reference: S6W-25972
- Date lodged: 5 March 2024
-
Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 18 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the Scottish National Party manifesto commitment, what the cost would have been in (a) 2021-22, (b) 2022-23 and (c) 2023-24 of bringing the Higher Property Rate into line with that in England, broken down by industry sector.
Answer
Table 1 presents the estimated gross cost of setting the Higher Property Rate equal to the Standard Multiplier in England. In England, in all three years, the Standard Multiplier was 51.2p, or 1.3p above the Small Business Multiplier of 49.9p. In Scotland, the Higher Property Rate in all three years was 2.6p above the poundage, which was 49p in 2021-2022 (having been temporarily reduced from 49.8p in 2020-2021 in response to the ongoing impact of COVID-19), and 49.8p in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. The costs therefore represent the impact of setting the Higher Property Rate at 51.2p instead of 51.6p in 2021-2022, and 52.4p in 2022-2023 and 2023-2024.
The figure for 2023-2024 is presented after General Revaluation Transitional Relief is applied. The figures are gross estimates, and are not adjusted for any other relief. Figures are broken down by property class, as the Scottish Government does not hold property-level data on industry sectors. Property class is a classification used by Scottish Assessors to describe the type of property, and does not necessarily accurately reflect the use of a property.
This table is based on the valuation roll as at 1 October 2021, 1 October 2022, and 1 October 2023, with figures from 30 March 2023 and 1 April 2023 used to calculate General Revaluation Transitional Relief.
Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest £1,000, and may not sum due to rounding.
Table 1: Estimated gross cost of reducing the Higher Property Rate to the level of the English Standard Multiplier (51.2p) (£), broken down by property class.
Property class | 2021-2022 (£) | 2022-2023 (£) | 2023-2024 (£) |
Shops | 3,589,000 | 10,798,000 | 8,824,000 |
Public houses and restaurants | 127,000 | 377,000 | 317,000 |
Offices | 2,167,000 | 6,597,000 | 6,092,000 |
Hotels | 778,000 | 2,390,000 | 2,270,000 |
Industrial subjects | 2,863,000 | 8,658,000 | 8,709,000 |
Leisure and entertainment | 600,000 | 1,814,000 | 1,873,000 |
Garages and petrol stations | 117,000 | 341,000 | 312,000 |
Cultural | 145,000 | 408,000 | 412,000 |
Sporting subjects | 36,000 | 113,000 | 98,000 |
Education and training | 1,918,000 | 5,707,000 | 6,229,000 |
Public service subjects | 895,000 | 2,614,000 | 2,505,000 |
Communications | 81,000 | 197,000 | 303,000 |
Quarries, mines, etc. | 34,000 | 94,000 | 95,000 |
Petrochemical | 447,000 | 1,291,000 | 1,400,000 |
Religious | 14,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 |
Health and medical | 714,000 | 2,097,000 | 2,120,000 |
Other | 352,000 | 1,045,000 | 1,102,000 |
Care facilities | 207,000 | 631,000 | 704,000 |
Advertising | 11,000 | 34,000 | 39,000 |
Statutory undertaking | 3,647,000 | 10,897,000 | 10,039,000 |
All | 18,743,000 | 56,152,000 | 53,493,000 |