Ex-celtic striker Hood ‘stung’ with £300,000 rates bill
CELTIC legend Harry Hood has hit out after being stung with a £300,000 business rates bill for his pub and hotel firm.
The former Parkhead striker, 73, runs four licensed premises across Lanarkshire under his Lisini Pub company and employs 300 people.
But he has hit out after claiming his rates bill is set to double.
The Lisini group run Angels Hotel and the Castle Rooms in Uddingston, Dalziel Park in Motherwell and the Parkville Hotel in Blantyre.
A controversial rates revaluation prompted fury across the country with warnings of a devastating impact for businesses when it was put in place last year.
It provoked a furious backlash, particularly in the hospitality sector and the north-east, with hikes of up to 400% pushing some firms to the brink of collapse.
Mr Hood, of Bothwell, Lanarkshire, has called for more to be done to help those struggling to pay their increasing bills.
He said: “It effects the pub trade in particular these rates. Since 2015, we have had the government pension scheme brought in and we are responsible for that, and the living wage has been introduced as well, but we would pay that anyway.
“For us to reach the profit levels we do, we need to employ 300 people, so it is a considerable amount of staff we have. That is not taken into consideration at all when it comes to setting business rates.
“It used to be based on turnover but that changed and I now don’t know how they are set but I do know that they only keep going up.
“Some places are seeing increases of 10%, 20% right up to 200% and 300% and that is obviously damaging, especially in the pub trade where pubs are going out the game all the time because of the costs they are being hit with.”
Mr Hood has also criticised the rates appeal system, claiming it fails to work in favour of taxpayers.
The Scottish Government said 67,519 appellants had disputed their bills before last year’s September 30 deadline.
SNP Finance Secretary Derek Mackay was forced to introduce £45m of emergency reliefs to calm the situation and also capped rates at 12.5% real term cap on business rates for 2018/19.