Business rates - your views online

Business chiefs have called for reforms of ‘unaffordable’ city-centre business rates to help traders get back on their feet and fill empty shops in the capital.

Shoppers in Princes Street, Edinburgh

Paul Cuthbert

No matter, city centre will be dead soon anyway with the anti-car brigade’s plans. Wait until North Bridge and George Street pedestrian zones start and congestion charges comes in – the place will be a ghost town.

Carol Halliday

No tat please on our Princes Street. It looks derelict and very sad.

Clara Macleod

Rates are proportional to rental value, and they're often completely rebated in the first few years of trading anyway. What needs to happen is landlords need to be urged to wholesale drop the rents they charge (not a one-off discount) then apply for reassessment to drop the rated value for the property. What's the betting landlords don't want to do that, even if it means their properties lie empty?

Robert MacIntosh

We are in a state of change, with city centres moving from retail to leisure such as restaurants, places to do things such as cinemas, theatres etc and smaller shopping experiences. That change is welcome. Monolithic high streets filled with wall to wall chain stores are the ones dying, and good riddance.

Peter Anderson

Don't need business leaders to tell us that. The public has been saying it for ages. Closed shops are the first impression when tourists come and the impressions last. The problem is Edinburgh is wrapped in its own importance and tries to mirror London.

Asda concession

Asda has brought back its Blue Light Card discount to shoppers during the cost of living crisis, but you can only use it depending on what your job is.

Janice McGrath-Scott

I don’t see teachers on this list of public sector workers. Why? I don’t know any teacher who earns what a doctor or dentist does. What about low paid workers like cleaners and the likes? These stores are raking it in so the ‘right’ thing to do would be reduce prices for ALL! This is just a publicity stunt!

Debra Davies

There are some people on this list that are in extremely well paid jobs (dentists for example) and don't need to use the discount but no doubt will.

Kathy Aliberti

Nice to see all the people in well paid, highly pensioned jobs tagging each other. I'm so pleased that the cost of my pensioner mum's shopping will have to go up to pay for this. Makes you proud.

Gemma Fox

Supermarkets need to drop their prices for everyone. Drop their profit margins, tell a huge amount of people in their high paid jobs who really do nothing for the consumers, that their bonuses are not happening this year.

Helen Begg

What about railway engineers that keep tracks safe for transportation of goods that get to Asda and other stores?

Denise MacColl

Why do people need to show ID? If they have the card they have paid for and sent proof to get it.

Caitlin Mcib

What about pensioners and students, surely they would be entitled to discounts? All fairness if supermarkets are realising cost of living is too much, then everyone should be entitled to discounts or even better to just bring the prices down. Everything is overpriced and expensive, not just cost living but literally everything.

Colin Nicol

It'd be nice to see this extended to farmers, fast moving consumer goods factory workers and fast moving consumer goods HGV drivers - the ones who keep the supermarkets stock coming in.

Elaine Burt

Why don’t they just reduce the prices for everyone?

Rita Brett

Why do you have to have a certain job to get discount? What about the pensioners, at least Iceland are giving the over 60s 10 per cent off their shopping.

Angela Mcdermott

These supermarkets should cut their profit margins and have the guts to say to their shareholders that the dividends need a huge cut because we are cutting prices in store so all customers benefit during this economic crisis. Stop robbing customer to keep shareholders happy.

Jamie Begg

Eh, what about doing it for everyone instead of just the professions listed? We’re all struggling are we not?

Fiona Ritchie

Some of these professions are on a good income.

Eileen Lyons

These stores need to drop their prices instead of giving discounts to certain groups.

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