{"id":64396,"date":"2015-11-19T10:32:52","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T10:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=f9a91e4472d0ab14c9fb41b9b5ac4c2c"},"modified":"2015-11-19T10:32:52","modified_gmt":"2015-11-19T10:32:52","slug":"press-release-businesses-benefit-from-business-rate-discounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=64396","title":{"rendered":"Press release: Businesses benefit from business rate discounts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Businesses across the country are benefitting from record levels of discounts from their rates bills, new figures<\/a> show today (19 November 2015) \u2013 with many small businesses paying no rates at all.<\/p>\n

Latest figures<\/a> show that in the last year, councils have paid out over \u00a33 billion in business rate discounts and reliefs for local companies \u2013 a \u00a3221 million increase on the previous year.<\/p>\n

This means the total amount of business rates actually paid by businesses has gone up by less than 1% in the last year \u2013 less than half the rate of inflation.<\/p>\n

Communities Secretary Greg Clark said:<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m pleased to see councils are taking steps to offer the support businesses need to grow and flourish, with over \u00a33 billion paid out in business rate relief in the last year.<\/p>\n

The power to give business rate discounts was brought in with the Localism Act<\/a> and in future all business rate revenue will be in the hands of local councils.<\/p>\n

They will have even greater ability to give to help local businesses in their area.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Reforming business rates<\/h3>\n

Supporting businesses to grow and prosper is an important part of the government\u2019s long-term economic plan.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the government has offered a comprehensive package of business rates reliefs, including:<\/p>\n