The property industry is making a final attempt to get the government to abandon the tax on empty commercial buildings, claiming it could prevent development and lead to urban wastelands. The tax, which begins today, will force owners to pay business rates on unoccupied buildings. The threatened "constructive vandalism" would lead to a repeat of the de-roofing epidemic which occurred during the last recession. Whether property owners would get away with it this time is another matter, because of the recent anti-tax-avoidance legislation, which, logically, constructive vandalism should fall foul of. We shall see. The British Property Federation has issued a statement which, strangely, claims that properties are empty because there is no demand for them at a particular time or place... extra tax burdens will do nothing to change that. One must hope that nobody will be fooled. Unless the location is sub-marginal there is ALWAYS a price at which a property can be let to a tenant....
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