Labour to scrap business rates if elected, says shadow chancellor | Rachel Reeves

Labour will scrap business rates and undertake the “biggest overhaul of business taxation in a generation,” the Labour shadow chancellor will say at her speech on Monday, saying the current system punishes entrepreneurs and business investment.

Rachel Reeves will also announce that the party will undertake a major review of existing tax reliefs, suggesting it would target reliefs on wealth such as income from buy-to-let properties.

She said the reliefs “create extra layers of complexity to navigate, and added together they cost more than our entire NHS budget.

“We will look at every single tax break. If it doesn’t deliver for the taxpayer or for the economy then we will scrap it.”

The shadow chancellor said a Labour government would freeze business rates and eventually replace them with a new, as yet undefined system that she said would reward investment, with a particular focus on businesses investing in decarbonisation and green technology.