A manufacturing sector lobby group has called for Rachel Reeves to boost green energy investments by granting them exemption from a real estate tax. At present, manufacturers that invest in greener technologies see the value of their factories increase, which in turn increases their business rates bills - a system Make UK has branded "perverse", The Times reports. “However, it’s perverse that by making such investments their business rates increase. This is not just actively dissuading them but penalising them for ‘doing the right thing’.”Make UK has called on the chancellor to protect manufacturers investing in green assets from business rates for three years, as well as to extend tax reliefs for capital stock linked to industrial automation and decarbonisation. A Treasury spokesman told The Times: “The chancellor makes tax policy decisions at fiscal events.
