BBPA meets with government over stamp duty reform
Representatives of the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), the British Retail Consortium and the Confederation of British Industry met with treasury minister Paul Boateng yesterday to discuss stamp duty reform.
The organisations are hoping that they can persuade the government to change its reform so licensees and other small businesses will not face huge financial burdens when the new regime is implemented.
The government wants to introduce a stamp duty land tax in December of this year, which will see licensees and other businesses charged duty based on the length of the lease rather than one year's average rent. It is feared that the new reform will cost licensees thousands of pounds in additional costs and discourage people form entering the trade.
Mark Hastings, spokesman of the BBPA, said: "It was a positive meeting in that government is listening to the concerns of the industry.
"The government is particularly interested in the pub sector as the tax will be a tax on licensees and small businesses."
Earlier this month the government rejected calls from the pub industry and the Conservative Party to delay the introduction of the reform.
The Conservative Party attempted to stall the government's stamp duty plans by launching an amendment to the new Finance Bill. The amendment wanted to delay the implementation of the changes from December 1 this year to December 1 2004, in order to give the trade more time to consult over the changes.
But in a letter to shadow chancellor Michael Howard, chief secretary to the Treasury Paul Boateng refused to consider the move.
