Heathrow Faces Sharp Business Rates Hike as Labour Considers Tax Rises

Heathrow Airport has sharply criticised proposals that would see its business rates bill rise fivefold to £500 million from the current £121 million, arguing such an increase undermines the government’s expansion ambitions and threatens the competitiveness of UK aviation.

Airport executives have urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reconsider the planned rise, warning that the tax burden would defy her stated goal to drive economic growth through airport expansion. Heathrow, which currently pays the highest business rates of any UK company, insists the increase is unsustainable and feels targeted by punitive fiscal policy.

The looming rise follows a Treasury assessment which will, from April, base rateable values on 2024 profits. The previous calculation was pegged to 2021, when aviation revenues were severely depressed by the pandemic. Airports will now also bear a supplementary tax of ten pence in the pound, aimed at funding rate relief for pubs and restaurants; for Heathrow, this adds an estimated £21 million even at current valuations.

Heathrow and other major UK airports, including Gatwick, Stansted and Manchester, are expected to become the country’s largest business rate payers after the revaluation. Heathrow’s payment could be 20 times higher than that of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant, which last year paid roughly £28 million. The escalation is compounded by a shift to calculations based on income rather than building costs.

The Valuation Office Agency has entered discussions with affected companies, allowing them to contest their new valuations if factual inaccuracies are found. A draft list of new rateable values is due by year end, likely timed to coincide with the Budget announcement.

Tax experts at consultancy Ryan believe phased relief is essential to cushion affected firms from dramatic increases, noting that a mechanism to limit initial rises is likely to be confirmed in the Budget. Under the previous three-year cycle, rate increases were capped at 30 percent in the first year. The Treasury has indicated continued engagement with the aviation sector and support for those hardest hit by revaluations.