4th August 2009

Ben Gummer condemns government's port tax grab

Ben Gummer today condemned the government's back-dating of tax for port companies.

In 2008 the Valuation Office Agency realized that they had made an error in their calculation of the business rates owed by companies operating in ports.  The agency decided to backdate their tax demands to April 2005, even though the error was their own.

Ben said:

"The hammering of port companies is completely unjustified.  There could be no clearer illustration of how retrospective taxation is not only wrong in principle but is also counter-productive. The port companies operating at Ipswich Port provide jobs at a time when unemployment is soaring, and the government should be doing all they can to help them.  Instead, because of the tax-collectors own error, they are imposing back-dated demands on struggling businesses.

"The government must back down on this.  I quite agree with Alan Johnson, who has made a brave stand against the government in support of his constituents, that the government must "remove this totally unfair burden on businesses that are already struggling to survive".

I shall be talking to all the port businesses in Ipswich and will be representing their views forcibly to the minister."

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