EZ watchdogs out
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"This is a licence to remove our livelihood," he said, and rged fellow warehousemen to Dbby their MPs before the amage is done.
He also delivered a strong ,rotest about the level of rate icreases being imposed by )cal government, and referred 3 a 42 per cent increase imosed on his firm by the London 'orough of Greenwich. His £1.45
the £1 rates have pushed his annual bill to £8,000, and he said it was impossible to recover these costs from customers.
"This is unfair taxation from a reactionary Labour council which is bent on discrediting the Government. It is a criminal act against the ratepayer".
He called upon Environment Secretary Michael Hese!tine to impose penalties on high-spending local authorities, and certainly to act before many Labour councils levy interim rates later this year. Interim rate increases would drive many warehouse keepers nearer to insolvency, Mr Piper warned.
The importance of rates
again figured when Mr Piper mentioned the inequity of water rates which are charged according to the area of a warehouse, rather than the amount of water used. He urged warehouse keepers to ask to have meters installed, and promised that the Association would continue to fight for members.
Replying to Mr Piper, Confederation of British Industry director general Sir Terence Beckett said the average rate increase this year was 17 per cent, but he acknowledged that many authorities have imposed rises of as high as 50 per cent.
He said the CBI would continue to press for action, perhaps by imposing a ceiling on business rates.