BELFAST ? In an effort to provide relief to small businesses and despite efforts by Tesco to kill the proposal, Northern Ireland plans to move forward with a tax on large retailers, the Financial Times reports.
Sammy Wilson, minister for finance in the Northern Ireland executive, said the tax should be in place by next April despite ?hysterical? opposition from some large retailers, particularly Tesco.
Tesco maintains the proposed tax would cost the company �1.5 million ($2.35 million) to �2 million ($3.13 million) a year and could impede investment. B&Q and Sainsbury?s also lobbied against the tax.
Wilson said he would present a proposal to the Northern Ireland executive this week and expects it to be passed via an accelerated legislative procedure.
The plan would generate roughly �7 million ($10.96 million) from the 80 biggest retail stores, which would be redistributed by extending an existing relief program for small companies.
Wilson said the plan was necessary, as small businesses have been affected more seriously than large groups during the current downturn.
Northern Ireland?s retail sector has been hit hard by the recession, with 17.1% of shops vacant as of May 2011.
Wilson said the tax would be imposed for three years, after which a scheduled revaluation of business rates would be completed in 2015.
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