The Scottish Government and councils are using slavery, extortion, and using the rates system against helpless Scottish people, who own a business property, that has had to close.

The Scottish Government and councils are using their power for political gain and to extort money from their own Scots, by creating and engineering an impossible, continuous demand on non-domestic empty property, owners — particularly shop owners that have had to shut down. They are forcing them to pay a so-called rates tax on a property that has no income or any profit of any kind, forever, if they can’t sell or rent it.
But you can’t sell shops anymore; people have no use for them, especially small shops on high streets and in small, forgotten towns and villages, as people are not using them and are getting, everything online and delivered now. Small shops can’t get goods at a price they can sell to make a profit.
They said it was to encourage the use of the property, but this so-called tax has been designed to tax people a second time: the tax itself and the tax on the work people have to do, to get money to pay it. It’s pure extortion and slavery, as they are lumbered with a property they can’t sell or rent — probably without any money. How long do you think you can go on paying thousands of pounds every year without an income? The MSPs and Councillors that voted for this are, in my opinion, ruthless, despicable people who don’t care about the thousands of people  they are condemning to slavery and a life of misery, worry, hardship, and mental and physical health issues.

Council Tax Reform: Overall UK tax levels are already high and increasingly difficult to sustain.

Council tax reform: Some MPs in England are asking Andy Burnham for tax reform, as 70% of voters say their council tax is extortionate and a majority can't pay it. In Scotland, home and commercial property rates have reached extreme levels.

Scottish councils and the Scottish Government are imposing severe council-tax liabilities on owners of homes and empty commercial properties through unfair laws and bailiff action to extort money. They are seizing people's property and homes, leaving people destitute if they cannot pay.

Many have had to close their businesses, especially shops, because they make little or no profit, cannot afford staff, or suffer illness, old age, or bankruptcy. Nevertheless, they continue to face financial demands relating to empty commercial properties. This is being forced on all empty closed commercial properties. This issue is not limited to Scotland.

If English councils are given by Andy Burnham control over rates, as has happened in Scotland, critics fear that rates could rise substantially, particularly for businesses and homeowners. Councillors may have incentives to raise as much revenue as possible to fund their own political ideology, as they are voted in by people who want something, and the money has to come from somewhere to pay for it. So they are quite happy with the financial burden falling disproportionately on some residents and business owners, whether it is right or wrong.

There may be more than four million homeowners in England who have experienced bailiff action over unpaid council tax. Critics argue that this system is expanding with insufficient public scrutiny, while some councillors, MPs, and MSPs support enforcement measures that can leave people trapped in long-term debt. This forced servitude is spreading as it is conducted in secrecy by councils and MPs and MSPs who think it is right to extort money in this way and enslave people forever.

The UK is becoming a slave economy through enforced laws and continued unfair new taxes, being added to the ever-expanding ways to take more money from ordinary individuals and businesses. The tax levels are horrendous and out of control and do not sufficiently improve ordinary people’s lives.

Do people want shops? Yes and no — what types of shops will they use? If a shop sells drugs, cigarettes, vapes, or alcohol, yes.

They want shops so their high street or local area looks good.

Do they support the shops they want to see? No.

Do they want good food shops? Not really — people will say yes, but they don't use them. Take a good vegetable shop next to a chain supermarket. The vegetable shop sells good-quality produce at a fair price for what it takes to farm. It may be slightly more expensive than the supermarket but sometimes cheaper. Vegetables are not expensive; if people had to grow their own, they would appreciate the work that it takes to produce them and the cost they could not bear. But they have to prepare and cook them, so they buy prepacked cheap processed so-called food.

Do they want specialist individual shops in their area? Yes. But do they support them? No. People say they want them; it is good to see a shop open and to have it make a street more interesting so they can maybe browse out of interest. But do they purchase anything to keep the shop open? Mostly no. They come in, look round, and go out, then they walk past and never use it again. "That was not for me,"—they must have that big TV, expensive phone, third holiday, get their nails done, get the latest beauty treatment, that expensive car. If they need anything like that, they will get it on the internet or at the supermarket, cheaper. Not everyone thinks this way, but there aren't enough people supporting the shops to keep them open, especially individual shops. So people have only themselves to blame, but not entirely, as taxes are out of control in the UK and leave most people struggling to pay the enforced overpriced essentials they need to live and run a family, as everything is taxed. If you pay VAT and a 20% tax on your wages, that's 40% gone straight away on anything you buy if you add all the tax imposed on you for everything you need; the amount must be about 80% or more of the money you earn. It's no wonder there are no shops, as there is little money left to support them and many other businesses. We all need businesses, but we are all being taxed out of existence.

The Real Rates Reform Alliance

Andy Burnham acknowledged that the current business rates system isn't fair and has already pledged to reform business rates, but at this time he has only talked about levelling the playing field with online sellers, and only for some businesses. He hopes to increase the threshold for small business rates relief in England from £1,200 to £18,000 and extend the upper threshold up to £21,000 from £15,000. The Real Rates Reform Alliance launches today, 16/7/26, and is trying to protect high streets, support investment, and create a fairer tax system for businesses. It includes the likes of UK Hospitality and the Institute of Directors, the group which represents more than 28,000 firms and business leaders.

Anna Leach, chief economist at the Institute of Directors, said the time had come for fundamental reform. It calculated that digital firms pay 9 per cent of total business rates despite accounting for a fifth of economic activity, while retail and hospitality firms contribute 34 per cent of business rates while only making up around 9 per cent of the UK economy, so firms had been forced to cut jobs and freeze hiring and investment.

Have a look at the Real Rates Reform campaign at:
website: https://realratesreform.co.uk/#what-is-the-hybrid-business-rate-solution