Tax and Occupancy of Business Properties: Evidence from UK Business Rate Reliefs

We study how UK property tax rates impact commercial vacancies and rents, using new data, and exploiting exogenous variations in two major property tax reliefs, small business relief and retail relief. We estimate that both reliefs are effective at achieving their objectives. A given monetary relief per property will lead to a bigger reduction in vacancies for eligible properties if given via retail relief, because small business relief is targeted only at small businesses. Small business relief has a bigger effect in clusters of urban properties, while both reliefs are more effective in reducing retail vacancies in less deprived areas.