To the Chancellor of the Exchequer,

We are small and medium-sized businesses from across England, working in different sectors and communities but facing many of the same pressures. Businesses like ours employ millions of people, invest in towns and cities across the country and play a central role in driving economic growth.

Yet the business rates system too often works against those ambitions.

Because business rates are charged on the premises we occupy rather than the trade we do inside them, the tax takes little account of whether a business is performing strongly or struggling to make ends meet. The bill remains even when trading conditions are difficult, while businesses that invest in improving or expanding their premises can find themselves facing a higher tax bill as a result.

This is not simply a problem for pubs, restaurants or retailers. It affects businesses across the economy, from factories and workshops to warehouses, offices and other firms that depend on physical premises to operate, invest and grow.

For businesses like ours, that can have a direct impact on commercial decisions. It can mean putting off a refurbishment, delaying expansion, deciding against taking additional space or holding back investment that would otherwise improve productivity and create jobs.

Successive governments have recognised that the system creates problems, and reliefs, discounts and changes to multipliers have provided welcome help to some sectors and individual businesses.

But piecemeal measures aimed at particular industries do not address the fundamental weakness in the system. A tax that can penalise investment and bears little relationship to a business’s ability to pay needs more than another temporary adjustment.

We are therefore asking you to use the Budget on 28 October to commit to a root-and-branch rethink of business rates, alongside a clear timetable for reform.

As businesses that pay business rates and face investment decisions every day, we would welcome the opportunity to contribute directly to that process and provide evidence on how the current system affects growth.

It is time to rethink the rates.

Yours sincerely,