A news report on a proposed new local business tax in Northampton included this note:
But it has emerged that a similar scheme launched in Coventry ended in farce when the body running the project was wound up in the wake of a mass “Axe the Tax” protest, which saw hundreds of recession-struck small firms hauled before magistrates for refusing to pay the levy.
David Williams, a Northampton-based businessman who owned a total of 15 properties which fell under the Coventry BID scheme, said: “It was a total and utter disaster.
Businesses hated it.
At one meeting the people behind it were nearly lynched.
“There were hundreds of businesses struggling in the grip of a recession and then they were asked to pay an extra levy on top.
For some, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
