| ▲ | rconti 5 hours ago |
| Interest in context on "government pub rates". New tax scheme? |
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| ▲ | amiga386 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| Existing tax. Proposed new calculation for the "value" of business property, disproportionately affecting pubs. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8e57dexly1o > In her November Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves scaled back business rate discounts that have been in force since the pandemic from 75% to 40% - and announced that there would be no discount at all from April. That, combined with big upward adjustments to rateable values of pub premises, left landlords with the prospect of much higher rates bills. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_rates_in_England > Properties are assessed in a rating list with a rateable value, a valuation of their annual rental value on a fixed valuation date using assumptions fixed by statute. Rating lists are created and maintained by the Valuation Office Agency, a UK government executive agency. |
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| ▲ | rconti an hour ago | parent [-] | | Ah, interesting. So it sounds like the tax roughly scales with property value (or size). And pubs are probably a "poor use of land" because the revenue per square foot is not particularly high? |
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| ▲ | flir 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Pubs are dying. Have been for years. Many deaths were postponed because their taxes were reduced due to Covid. Those taxes are now returning to normal levels. This will result in a glut of deaths, as pubs that were just hanging on go under. The policy question is, basically, do we want to subsidize pubs because they're part of our national culture, even though we don't use them nearly as much as we used to? |
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| ▲ | kristianc 4 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | "Does Britain really need?" has been responsible for the gutting of so much of what used to make Britain a nice place to live over the last 20 years. You can say she same about public libraries, local bus routes, civic architecture, arts funding, youth services, maintenance budgets. The damage has been incalculable. | | |
| ▲ | flir an hour ago | parent [-] | | You won't find any argument from me on all those other things. But pubs are a weird place to draw the line. |
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| ▲ | jaccola 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | The government has decided that they know what’s good for you better for you than you do. So they tax alcohol at incredibly high rates. Without this more pubs could exist. So I don’t think it’s a case of subsidising as much as removing the disincentive. | | |
| ▲ | yunohn 3 hours ago | parent [-] | | I’m not familiar with the UK, but is the tax on alcohol at pubs higher than at a store? My general understanding was that people have just shopped visiting pubs for other reasons - like diluted drinks, crappy food, loud music, etc. | | |
| ▲ | t-3 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Bars and pubs aren't really competing against the store or restaurants, they're competing against you drinking alone or with only close friends. If stepping in to have a beer and shoot the shit would cost a significant chunk of a day's wages, you just won't do it, but if I can buy more beer with an hours wages than I can drink in an hour, it's not a bad time. | | |
| ▲ | iso1631 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | Weatherspoons charge under £3 for a pint in town. That's 15 minutes at minimum wage. Beer was far more expensive 25 years ago - £1.60 in 2000 in the student pub when I first started buying my own beer, that was about half an hour at minimum wage. On the cost side: Wages are higher, energy costs more, rent is higher (because if the pub can't operate the owner can get planning permission to convert it to a private dwelling and sell it for £600k rather than making £12k a year in rent) On the demand side: People are healthier and drink less. It's nowhere near as acceptable to go out for a few pints at lunch time. People can't drive to a rural pub. | | |
| ▲ | messe 2 hours ago | parent [-] | | > Weatherspoons charge under £3 for a pint in town. That's 15 minutes at minimum wage. Yeah but then you've to drink at spoons. |
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| ▲ | christkv 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Lower taxes is not subsidising a business. | | |
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| ▲ | cjs_ac 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Changes to property taxes on business premises. |
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| ▲ | RobinL 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| > In her November Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves scaled back business rate discounts that have been in force since the pandemic from 75% to 40% - and announced that there would be no discount at all from April. That, combined with big upward adjustments to rateable values of pub premises, left landlords with the prospect of much higher rates bills. |
