HERE we go again, the SNP’s rates revaluation as highlighted in your The Great Rates Revolt series (The Herald, February 14, 15, 16 & 17) follows its tried and trusted model: policy formation behind closed doors, an absence of meaningful consultation, and howls from those at the sharp end (small private businesses in this case) when the shiny new, but fatally flawed, policy is rolled out.
Might I suggest that retail, leisure and hospitality premises should be rated on turnover rather than by a notional property rental value, thus levelling the playing field between high street and internet retailers. So far as the latter are concerned, turnover should be defined as the sales value of the goods leaving the distribution centre, irrespective of the location from which they are invoiced. It is also counter-intuitive that publicly funded premises like hospitals should pay rates. All that happens is that a cost is added by collecting the rates and the subsequent de-facto reimbursement via Government funding.
It appears that nothing has been learned from the SNP’s other shambolic policy failures: the Named Person scheme, the formation of Police Scotland and the so-called Curriculum for Excellence to name but three. It is obvious that the SNP’s policy makers suffer from delusions of adequacy, believing that the knowledge of those on the front line is irrelevant and thus a mere distraction.
From my own experience, I know that top-down policy formation seldom delivers. While it is appropriate for those at the top to initiate new policies, the essential step between having the idea and rolling out the final policy is research and consultation with those involved. Not only does this process highlight avoidable mistakes; but the really positive effect of meaningful consultation is that those involved take ownership of the eventual policy so that it works from the get go.
John Breckenridge,
2 Altonhead Terrace,
Cumminghead, Kilmarnock.
I FIND it astonishing that when the business rate is revalued, you roll up with a front-page banner-headline, story about some muckety muck refusing to pay because his business is not as profitable as it once was (“Salmond’s top hotelier to lead rates boycott”, The Herald, February 16). What about all the home owners who are having to pay more due to rebanding? Are we all going to be allowed to say “Hey, enough's enough – I'm not paying either?” We've been down that road before and it got us nowhere.
Yes it is a serious hike, but Aberdeen businesses greatly benefited from increased revenue and profits during the times of high oil prices, and they will greatly benefit again in the years ahead. Time to stop whingeing. Do what the rest of us do: pay your share!
Francis Deigman,
12 Broomlands Way,
Erskine.
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