| Updated:
Taxes crippling the high street
High taxes on empty retail properties are “crippling the recovery agenda”, a leading group of chartered surveyors will argue this morning. More than nine in 10 surveyors say that the charges on the high street are “significantly detrimental” to UK town centres. “The charges faced by property owners are quite simply crippling the high street and preventing businesses of all types from achieving financial stability,” said Simon Rubinsohn, economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). The group says the coalition should extend exemption periods for high street firms.