THE debate about how we tax local properties has been well covered in the Telegraph. 

Much of that debate has centred on council tax levels for residential properties but now the issue of non-domestic rates paid by local businesses has climbed up the political agenda.

On April 1, the first revaluation of business properties in seven years takes effect. Bills will go up for some firms and down for others.

It’s not the easiest system to make sense of. Assessors determine a property’s value based on 2015 rental levels. The Scottish Government set a poundage rate.

Multiply one by the other and most businesses can generally work out what they owe — although many will qualify for reliefs and exemptions, like the Small Business Bonus, to make their bills more affordable.

There is little real local accountability in the system. The councillors we elect to represent us have too little say over rates. Under-funded councils have too little real flexibility.

Valuations can be disputed. Appeals against assessors’ decisions can be cumbersome and time-consuming.
Sometimes certain sectors get hit harder than others.

Enchanted Forest are a childcare provider with nurseries in Greenock and Inverkip. I met Enchanted Forest staff recently, with Councillor Terry Loughran, and heard their concerns about what this revaluation means for the childcare sector.

There are nurseries now facing steep and sudden rises in their bills — rises so steep and so sudden that they couldn’t possibly budget for them. Rises that cannot be justified and that will have profound implications for the business models of childcare providers.

The Scottish Government say they are committed to an Early Learning and Childcare entitlement of 1140 hours per year.

Yet they simply cannot meet their aspirations for childcare without the mixed economy of provision that nurseries like Enchanted Forest allow us to provide — the very nurseries this revaluation hits hardest.

As a parent myself, I know the importance of having affordable, flexible, quality childcare.

The Scottish Government should be working with nurseries to ensure that local families have the level of provision they really need.

Through the Telegraph, I want to appeal to the Scottish Government to do the right thing and make the tax system fairer for the local nurseries we simply cannot do without.