RATES AND TAXES

Non-Domestic Rates Reliefs

Recent research from the University of Ulster shows that in 2020/21, rates reliefs cost NI £225.6 million. This includes industrial de-rating rating (which the business lobby group manufacturingni boasts is worth £71.5 million annually), exemptions for churches and charities (£101.8m in 20/21), and rates relief on vacant commercial properties (£31.6m in 20/21). Total reliefs are equivalent to 26% of total non-domestic rates revenue raised. University of Ulster researchers note that a rates charge “is too high for some sectors/groups, which in turn puts a greater burden on other rate-payers”. The Workers Party demands an end to these giveaways. Industrial derating for huge multinational corporations including Coca-Cola (bottling), genocide facilitators Caterpillar, and Moy Park is unconscionable and should end immediately.

Rate the Rich

(1) End the maximum cap on domestic rates

In Northern Ireland the maximum capital valuation for a domestic property is £400, 000 [at 2004 prices]. For any house valued over £400, 000, Land & Property Services disregards the additional value when calculating domestic rates.

This ‘disregarded’ valuation is worth between £11 and 15 million per year, which currently remains in the pockets and bank accounts of 7,900 wealthy households , concentrated in North Down and the leafier streets of South Belfast.

The Workers Party calls for an immediate end to this cap and for the prioritisation of public sector housebuilding, retrofitting. and renewal. No doubt, a government committed to this would run into procedural barriers from the UK Treasury, not to mention threats from industry lobbyists. But the UK Treasury and business lobbyists are not losing any sleep on this with the current Sinn Féin/DUP coalition.

(2) Commercial rates

The recent climbdown on rates by Finance Minister John O’Dowd on January 29, 2026 has ensured that owners large and small keep their profit margins, while service workers continue to work harder in understaffed hotels. As with any sector in a capitalist market, the hotel business is in a permanent flux of winners and losers. Out of 143 hotels in total, the Top 10% of hotels are making record profits and reinvesting, while the bottom 45% (approx. 60 hotels) are businesses that are trading and providing jobs but are not making enough profit to reinvest in their buildings or pay down significant debts. Meanwhile, public services continue to crumble because the state has reneged on its moneyraising powers. In the immediate term, the Workers Party says that in any case where the public is to subsidise through rates relief those businesses which are struggling, it should be a precondition that the businesses must recognise trades unions and allow formal collective bargaining.

Devolve Taxes

Northern Ireland currently has no power over Income Tax or VAT (unlike Scotland). Income tax has been partially devolved in Scotland since 2016 and means medium and higher earners pay more than in the rest of the UK. Since 2019, the Welsh government has also been able to vary rates of income tax.

The Independent Fiscal Commission says that drawing on the Welsh and Scottish experience “the constituent parts can be in place to realise significant increased fiscal devolution to Northern Ireland” by 2026-27. A local sustainable programme will require the introduction of variable income tax raising powers.