On topic, three of the four bookmakers betting on Rachel Reeves' exit date took their markets down overnight. Starsports has clipped 2025 into 4/1 against; 8/15 next year.
Rachel Reeves to go this year now 3/1. If the Sunday papers can't stand up the claims that Reeves lied to parliament, she is probably safe. For one thing, there's only a month left of this year.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
The problem is that in-retained profit is gamed by the big business - the classic is the profit going to suppliers (by charging higher prices) who just happen to be part of a related corporate structure.
None of which matters for tax purposes so long as someone reports a profit somewhere. Shovel all your profits to suppliers, and they should end up massively profitable - and unless they find a way to invest the cash, boom, corp tax bill incoming.
There's more of an issue when they send all the profits off to a supplier in the Cayman Islands, but there are ways round that if you really want to (if needs be, a different tax regime is more than x% of turnover is paid to suppliers abroad).
That is what they do. The supplier is in another country (notionally) with lower taxes. Apple sells iPhones in the UK and pretends the profit is in Ireland.
Well, that was dull. Did anyone overtake anyone in the entire race, other than Verstappen's team mate letting him through? Doesn't bode well for an exciting GP.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
Regardless of whether it is based on turnover (I don't think it is BTW) there are far too many exemptions and reliefs. Agricultural land, charities (and charity shops) distorts the marketplace. Like IHT it should be at a much lower rate applied much more widely.
It’s supposed to be based on the rental value, which might be (and is) heavily correlated with turnover (turnover being correlated with, but not extremely, with profit), but certainly isn’t “based” on it as suggested up thread.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
That not true - the VOA typically only use profits (not turnover) for large premises such as cinemas etc. Local rents is used for the kind of business you are talking about.
your trading information and patterns the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
The VOA takes a pubs wet and dry sales history when it does a revaluation and applies that towards the next set of rateable figures.
Since rates are such a major cost for pubs, this results in a treadmill effect that boosting trade to pay for your rates, results in higher rates in the next revaluation.
As an aside, the way we calculate business rates/NDR is exactly how we should also do domestic council tax. VOA every three years, flat rate applied.
The three year bit is fine, but the appallingly incompetent and staggeringly untransparent Valuation Office Agency is very definitely how not to do things. It should just be done on market prices (either purchase or rental).
Personally I think we should go for the French (?) option - the land owner does the valuation, but the government can purchase the property for 120% of the valuation to stop people taking the mick.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
Regardless of whether it is based on turnover (I don't think it is BTW) there are far too many exemptions and reliefs. Agricultural land, charities (and charity shops) distorts the marketplace. Like IHT it should be at a much lower rate applied much more widely.
It’s supposed to be based on the rental value, which might be (and is) heavily correlated with turnover, but certainly isn’t “based” on it as suggested up thread.
It literally is. I've been involved in the revaluation of one previously and was quite shocked at how it worked.
The VOA takes the pubs wet and dry sales and applies that history into calculating the rentable value and the rates.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
That not true - the VOA typically only use profits (not turnover) for large premises such as cinemas etc. Local rents is used for the kind of business you are talking about.
your trading information and patterns the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
The VOA takes a pubs wet and dry sales history when it does a revaluation and applies that towards the next set of rateable figures.
Since rates are such a major cost for pubs, this results in a treadmill effect that boosting trade to pay for your rates, results in higher rates in the next revaluation.
You don't have any understanding of what turnover is, you've found to be talking a load of crap about rates for high street businesses, and you still can't comprehend that the VOA is still attempting to model what the rent would be for pubs.
On topic, three of the four bookmakers betting on Rachel Reeves' exit date took their markets down overnight. Starsports has clipped 2025 into 4/1 against; 8/15 next year.
Rachel Reeves to go this year now 3/1. If the Sunday papers can't stand up the claims that Reeves lied to parliament, she is probably safe. For one thing, there's only a month left of this year.
I heard Lucy Rigby bat away very eloquently the notion that Rachel lied. I think you can put your house on her being there next year. As for Kemi....I sense she's not loved
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
That not true - the VOA typically only use profits (not turnover) for large premises such as cinemas etc. Local rents is used for the kind of business you are talking about.
your trading information and patterns the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
The VOA takes a pubs wet and dry sales history when it does a revaluation and applies that towards the next set of rateable figures.
Since rates are such a major cost for pubs, this results in a treadmill effect that boosting trade to pay for your rates, results in higher rates in the next revaluation.
You don't have any understanding of what turnover is, you've found to be talking a load of crap about rates for high street businesses, and you still can't comprehend that the VOA is still attempting to model what the rent would be for pubs.
One of the causes of Britain's poor economic performance since the great financial crash has been suggested to be that the economy is carrying large numbers of inefficient unproductive businesses that were subsidised to survive the financial crash, Brexit and Covid, but are poorly-run zombie companies that will never grow.
If an increase in business rates has the effect of forcing a few inefficient businesses to close, freeing up premises and market opportunities for new companies with new ideas about how to make a profit where these struggling businesses could not, then that's going to be a good thing.
Not every business will succeed. If a business isn't profitable enough to pay a reasonable level of taxes then what good is it?
Having just come back from morning coffee from Dundee City centre I am not at all sure about this. The town centre is full of empty and to let units. Some have been empty for nearly a decade. Above them are buildings that used to be student accommodation which has been sitting empty for 20 years+ because of absurd and unrealistic planning conditions. Further out from the centre there are old warehouses and industrial units sitting empty everywhere. The idea that there is a shortage of units or accommodation because of these "zombie" businesses does not stack up. The idea that the poor souls working in the coffee shops, barbers and nail bars are somehow soaking up labour that is stopping new, high skilled businesses developing doesn't work either.
What is missing is investment. Skills. A working education system. Adequate training. Infrastructure. Opportunity. Hope. We are in a bad, bad place and some more unemployment is not going to make it any better.
I'm not sure somewhere like Dundee is the best example of zombie firms taking up space - this is an example of where there aren't any firms at all. It doesn't prove the hypothesis either way.
Given business premises in Dundee are effectively worthless, the valuation of these properties for NDR purposes (Scots for business rates) should really be zero, or close to it. That system already works quite well. I agree with you that the underlying issue in Dundee is just a complete lack of economic demand - though I do my best to contribute whenever work sends me up there. There is some hope - Dundee was for a time the quickest growing part of the Scottish economy, so there is something there to build on.
Dundee's recent growth was based around the University and the games industry. The desperate state of the University which has been run with truly staggering incompetence is a major problem for the town. Abertay University still provides good training in games but could really do with more investment. Much of the higher paid work has drifted to Edinburgh. But we just don't make anything anymore.
Well, the Desperate Dan statue was put there for a reason.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
That not true - the VOA typically only use profits (not turnover) for large premises such as cinemas etc. Local rents is used for the kind of business you are talking about.
your trading information and patterns the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
The VOA takes a pubs wet and dry sales history when it does a revaluation and applies that towards the next set of rateable figures.
Since rates are such a major cost for pubs, this results in a treadmill effect that boosting trade to pay for your rates, results in higher rates in the next revaluation.
You don't have any understanding of what turnover is, you've found to be talking a load of crap about rates for high street businesses, and you still can't comprehend that the VOA is still attempting to model what the rent would be for pubs.
What part of that are you struggling to understand.
It is not based on land value.
The other thing you do is regularly put words in other people's mouths. I did not say it was based on land value.
I hope you're not advising any businesses. They are going to get a big shock when they make no sales one year and the taxman still comes knocking. "But BartholomewRoberts told me it was a turnover tax!"
As an aside, the way we calculate business rates/NDR is exactly how we should also do domestic council tax. VOA every three years, flat rate applied.
The three year bit is fine, but the appallingly incompetent and staggeringly untransparent Valuation Office Agency is very definitely how not to do things. It should just be done on market prices (either purchase or rental).
Personally I think we should go for the French (?) option - the land owner does the valuation, but the government can purchase the property for 120% of the valuation to stop people taking the mick.
On topic, three of the four bookmakers betting on Rachel Reeves' exit date took their markets down overnight. Starsports has clipped 2025 into 4/1 against; 8/15 next year.
Rachel Reeves to go this year now 3/1. If the Sunday papers can't stand up the claims that Reeves lied to parliament, she is probably safe. For one thing, there's only a month left of this year.
I think you can put your house on her being there next year.
Rateable value on one of my pubs has gone from £49,000 to £205,000. That’s a 318% increase! I thought the government were helping hospitality out on business rates. This is nothing short of another attack on businesses that cannot afford this.
Twitter is absolutely full of hospitality business owners realising they have been absolutely shafted.
This is somewhat manufactured - Labour have actually cut the rates slightly compared with the counterfactual; the reason they are going up so much is because the COVID discount on valuation are coming to an end.
It's a bit mad that the govenrment didn't see this coming though. The obvious thing to do is to retain the COVID discount - but it's a complete mess if you do that because it treats some businesses better than others. FWIW, I think business rates are one of the fairer ways to tax business - encourages efficient use of valuable building space. The issues with the hospitality sector are much deeper than this, particularly with wages at the lower end rising.
Business rates are a stupid idea - as are all turnover taxes. By far the best way to tax businesses is to tax un-reinvested profits at a fairly steep rate, and nothing else.
Turnover taxes make business growth impossible, because you can't do the stuff required to grow without immediately getting whalloped for taxes - which have to be paid before the investment starts to pay off. This is particularly true of expansion into larger premises.
It doesn't help that the Valuation office is useless, slow and incompetent - I'm still waiting for them to sort out a listing they messed up dividing 4 years ago (there has been a fairly epic saga over this, it needs 30 second on a human's desk to resolve, but getting it onto the human's desk has taken two rates checks, and a challenge, and it's still not solved yet).
The time round, they have put in a 20% uplift to my rateable value, which is going to cost me £6k a year, and means my rateable value is very nearly double my actual rent (in theory if should reflect the rental value).
Those are good points (though it's not a turnover tax - it's a property tax effectively).
No, its not, since its not based on land value, it is based on turnover.
Which is why neighbouring businesses can have wildly different rates values per m^2, even on the same street.
It is a horrible, pernicious tax that should be abolished.
That not true - the VOA typically only use profits (not turnover) for large premises such as cinemas etc. Local rents is used for the kind of business you are talking about.
your trading information and patterns the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
The VOA takes a pubs wet and dry sales history when it does a revaluation and applies that towards the next set of rateable figures.
Since rates are such a major cost for pubs, this results in a treadmill effect that boosting trade to pay for your rates, results in higher rates in the next revaluation.
You don't have any understanding of what turnover is, you've found to be talking a load of crap about rates for high street businesses, and you still can't comprehend that the VOA is still attempting to model what the rent would be for pubs.
What part of that are you struggling to understand.
It is not based on land value.
The other thing you do is regularly put words in other people's mouths. I did not say it was based on land value.
I hope you're not advising any businesses. They are going to get a big shock when they make no sales one year and the taxman still comes knocking. "But BartholomewRoberts told me it was a turnover tax!"
Who is the one putting words into people's mouths. I never said it was a turnover tax, I said repeatedly that it increases based on past turnover. It does.
A land tax would be better, but it is not one. It is a horrible tax, especially for hospitality, as it escalates based on past trade. Exactly as I said all along.
On topic, three of the four bookmakers betting on Rachel Reeves' exit date took their markets down overnight. Starsports has clipped 2025 into 4/1 against; 8/15 next year.
Rachel Reeves to go this year now 3/1. If the Sunday papers can't stand up the claims that Reeves lied to parliament, she is probably safe. For one thing, there's only a month left of this year.
I heard Lucy Rigby bat away very eloquently the notion that Rachel lied. I think you can put your house on her being there next year. As for Kemi....I sense she's not loved
How many people have to die for the American oil industry? I cannot believe they will control the whole territory so it'll be hold the oil fields and drone the provinces alla Syria. Then Cuba just before November 2028.
One of the strange features of this is that Chevron still operate in Venezuela, as do ENI (Italian oil company).
I don't see Trump invading; it will be air attacks and a hope that the Venezuelan Government caves in.
One other emerging item is that the USN finished off survivors of a missile attack on a boat from Venezuela with a second attack:
While the first strike appeared to disable the boat and cause deaths, the military assessed there were survivors, according to the sources. The second attack killed the remaining crew on board, bringing the total death toll to 11, and sunk the ship.
On topic, three of the four bookmakers betting on Rachel Reeves' exit date took their markets down overnight. Starsports has clipped 2025 into 4/1 against; 8/15 next year.
Rachel Reeves to go this year now 3/1. If the Sunday papers can't stand up the claims that Reeves lied to parliament, she is probably safe. For one thing, there's only a month left of this year.
I heard Lucy Rigby bat away very eloquently the notion that Rachel lied. I think you can put your house on her being there next year. As for Kemi....I sense she's not loved
Well, Roger we know how strong your political sense is living abroad and just getting your feel of the situation by talking to luvvies.
Comments
your trading information and patterns
the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
The VOA takes a pubs wet and dry sales history when it does a revaluation and applies that towards the next set of rateable figures.
Since rates are such a major cost for pubs, this results in a treadmill effect that boosting trade to pay for your rates, results in higher rates in the next revaluation.
Personally I think we should go for the French (?) option - the land owner does the valuation, but the government can purchase the property for 120% of the valuation to stop people taking the mick.
The VOA takes the pubs wet and dry sales and applies that history into calculating the rentable value and the rates.
They literally say that on the Gov website too.
Confidently incorrect, as ever.
A rateable value is an estimate of what it would cost to rent a property for a year, on a set date known as the Antecedent Valuation Date (AVD). : https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-pubs-are-valued-for-business-rates
But blaming Ms Reeves or UKG for that 300% increase is very misleading. Nobody expected to have the covid relief last forever.
your trading information and patterns
the services it offers, for example food, gaming, or sports screenings
Higher trade = higher rent = higher rates. 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
What part of that are you struggling to understand.
It is not based on land value.
I hope you're not advising any businesses. They are going to get a big shock when they make no sales one year and the taxman still comes knocking. "But BartholomewRoberts told me it was a turnover tax!"
Feel free to read the full guide as to how revaluations happen. They are based, in no small part, on evaluating past receipts and expectations on future receipts based upon that: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/63c01fb3e90e0771ba389eb6/Guide_to_Public_Houses.pdf
A land tax would be better, but it is not one. It is a horrible tax, especially for hospitality, as it escalates based on past trade. Exactly as I said all along.
I don’t know if Reform would approve or disapprove???
NEW THREAD
I don't see Trump invading; it will be air attacks and a hope that the Venezuelan Government caves in.
One other emerging item is that the USN finished off survivors of a missile attack on a boat from Venezuela with a second attack:
While the first strike appeared to disable the boat and cause deaths, the military assessed there were survivors, according to the sources. The second attack killed the remaining crew on board, bringing the total death toll to 11, and sunk the ship.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had ordered the military prior to the operation to ensure the strike killed everyone on board, but it’s not clear if he knew there were survivors prior to the second strike, one of the sources said.
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/11/28/politics/us-military-second-strike-caribbean
Rates should be applied according to land value.
We have algorithms for that now.
Residential or commercial, it shouldn’t matter.