Business rates is the commonly used name of
non-domestic rates, a tax on the occupation of non-domestic property (
National Non-Domestic Rates – NNDR).
Rates are a
property tax with ancient roots that was formerly used to fund local services that was formalised with the Poor Law 1572 and superseded by the Poor Law of 1601. The Local Government Finance Act 1988 introduced business rates in
England and Wales from 1990, repealing its immediate predecessor, the General Rate Act 1967. The act also introduced
business rates in Scotland, but as an amendment to the existing system which had evolved separately to that in the rest of Great Britain. Since the establishment, in 1997, of a
Welsh Assembly Government able to pass
secondary legislation, the English and Welsh systems have been able to diverge.