rates

Ahead of the Stormont budget, should the Executive be rethinking its priorities?

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on March 6, 2020, 9:45 pm

| Readers 1372

With the first budget of the newly reconstituted Northern Ireland Executive expected shortly, there will be an opportunity to consider whether public resources are being directed appropriately to deal with Northern Ireland’s priorities for the decade to come. The table above shows UK public spending per person in each UK region for various expenditure categories for the 2018-19 fiscal year, in both monetary terms and expressed as a percentage of the UK average. For example, health spending in Northern Ireland …

Death to charity shops…

Am Ghobsmacht on January 13, 2019, 10:42 am

| Readers 5075

Forgive the OTT headline but such are my tabloid depths. I don’t actually want to get rid of charity shops. However. In an article on here by MurdockP it was highlighted how many there are on the Northern Irish high street as was their current rate-free status. From the outset this is no bad thing: empty shops, not being used and someone somewhere is benefiting from their kind deeds. So what’s the downside to this? Well, let us examine the …

Retailers in Northern Ireland could now pay more than twice as much in rates as English retailers…

Patrick Murdock on October 30, 2018, 9:41 am

| Readers 2334

When Chancellor Philip Hammond presented his budget earlier today, he announced significant financial assistance to help small and medium-sized high street retailers in England, lobbing 1/3 of business rates bills for properties with an NAV lower than £51,000. It is still unknown whether similar savings will be extended to the struggling retailers of Northern Ireland. Technically the revised Barnet Formula will allow for such savings to be included in future Northern Ireland Budgets, however due to the current Stormont impasse, …

How the Northern Ireland Government is destroying its own cities and towns…

Patrick Murdock on June 13, 2018, 4:07 pm

| Readers 5227

House of Fraser, with the announcement last week that it is to close 31 Stores across the UK, is just the latest in a long line of retailers which have either gone to the wall, or are scaling back their high street retail operations through store closures. Business rates are effectively a trading tax which businesses have to pay to have a high street presence, which in the era of online retail, puts bricks and sticks retailers at a tremendous …

Belfast City Council passes a 1.89% rate increase.

David McCann on February 1, 2018, 9:13 pm

| Readers 667

The district rate will see a 1.89% increase for 2018/19. The council says this will mean rate payers will pay on average less than £1 more per month or less than £10 per year. For businesses it will be an average increase of £12 per month or £144 per year. The impact varies by property, a Terraced House will see an increase of around £5.48 per year, were as a 4 Bed Detached House will see an increase of £18.63. …

1 in 6 high street properties in NI are now vacant…

Brian O'Neill on May 17, 2016, 9:43 am

| Readers 1434

As a new report reveals that 1 in 6 retail properties in NI are now vacant the Irish News has an interesting story on the closure of the SuperValu store in Banbridge. The Supervalu store – which originally opened as Wellworth’s in 1963 – had been owned and run by Frank McPolin (50) and employed nearly 80 full- and part-time staff. The building also houses a separately-run discount store and also the town’s main Post Office. Independent retail body NIIRTA …

Pay your rates by credit card: you pay 2% extra. Pay by debit card: LPS pay 29p.

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on May 11, 2012, 10:53 am

| Readers 157

Northern Ireland ratepayers choosing to pay their rates bills by credit card contributed around £32,000 to Santander last year. How do you pay your rates? Pay the whole year off up front and get the small discount? Pay monthly? Direct debit? Post Office? Or maybe you put on your credit card? Increasingly, government bodies are offering online card payment as an option for tax collection and bill payment. But just like booking a flight, there’s a surcharge. You pay dearly …

Being an all-Ireland party has its downsides – Sinn Fein’s inconsistency on property taxes

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on April 21, 2012, 9:48 pm

| Readers 55

Fine Gael TD Brian Hayes spoke at the North-South East West panel at the Alliance conference this afternoon. He spoke about the inconsistency of Sinn Fein’s positions in different parts of the island of Ireland. You can listen to his comments (should start at 8 min 36 secs): And as the minister of state for the Department of Finance I’m interested in Northern Ireland’s household charges and property taxes. I understand your property tax works out at an average of …