Businesses surveyed by the chamber for the P&J did not pull their punches when it came to their verdict on the rates rises.
Here are a selection of extracts from their comments:
“The Scottish government is focused on the central belt only. Out of 39 staff in Aberdeen, seven will lose their jobs, 11 will relocate overseas leaving a limited Aberdeen operations support for the short term.”
“Who is going to serve the wonderful influx of overseas tourists, once local authorities and central government have taxed the life out of bars, restaurants and hotels?”
“Our business is 80% export, and due to the repeated increase in costs we are now looking seriously at options to move our manufacturing operations abroad.”
“I find it ironic that we managed to negotiate a rent reduction with our landlord only for the rates to go up after we had achieved a saving in our rent.”
“I had a total of 94 staff over two premises. Now I am employing only 82 and this will probably be reducing even more due to the extended downturn. Local jobs being lost.”
“The Scottish Government must act without delay to alleviate the damage. The reliefs it has announced are arbitrary and discriminatory.”
“There is no defence for a system that can increase in such extreme amounts and at the same time be ignorant to the current economic circumstances.”
“We had no knowledge of the final figure until 1st May when the letter arrived. If we treated our customers in this cavalier fashion they would soon find alternatives. Obviously when you have no alternative this kind of treatment is possible.”
