Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 12 September 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the Scottish Retail Consortium’s suggestion in its Scottish Budget 2026-27 recommendations paper that retailers of all sizes should benefit from a meaningfully more competitive business rate than in England.
The Scottish Government offers a competitive non-domestic rates regime delivering the lowest property rate in the UK for the seventh year in a row and ensuring that over 95% of non-domestic properties continue to be liable for a lower property tax rate than anywhere else in the UK. The retail sector continues to be the largest beneficiary of the Small Business Bonus Scheme. That scheme remains the most generous scheme of its kind in the UK, and is part of our package of reliefs to support businesses and communities worth a forecast £733 million in 2025-26.
Tax policy decisions are made annually at budget in line with prevailing economic decisions and Government priorities.