Legislation to return business rates to local control will come in this parliamentary session, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg told the Local Government Association conference in Birmingham today.
Mr Clegg unveiled plans for a local government finance Bill, based on the results of the local government resources review.
Central to the Bill will be the promise to return business rates to local control within 'two to three years max'.
He told the conference:'Only five per cent of the entire tax take is raised locally in this country.'
If localism is going to be taken seriously,he claimed the balance of funding would have to be shifted.
'In terms of real decentralisation, money talks,' he added 'We need to reverse decades of centralisation to make our communities masters of their own destinies. We have to create the conditions for communities to invest in their own success. This means putting our money where our month is to give local authorities proper power over spending as well as more control over taxes raised.'
The Bill would also include the government's plans to introduce the tax increment financing (TIF) regime.
