Companies will be hit by an extra £1.5 billion bill following revaluation of business rates, the Conservative party has warned.
According to the Tories, the new rateable values introduced as part of the five-year revaluation cycle are equivalent to a 10% hike in business rates in England and Wales.
With almost two million bills sent out to firms across England today, the Conservatives claimed the government was using 'stealth' measures to increase the tax.
The measures include, it said, the ending of government subsidies to compensate firms hit by large bill increases and smaller reductions to bills for struggling companies whose yearly rent value has fallen.
Phillip Hammond, shadow local government minister, said: "Business rates, like council tax, are being used as a stealth tax by Labour. Since 1997, the business rate tax take has already risen by almost three times the rate of inflation.
"Now, the government is fiddling the revaluation to hike revenues by £1.5 billion, despite their claim that the revaluation would be revenue material.
"Soaring taxes on businesses are no April fool - they will undermine local firms and increase prices in shops."
The British Chamber of Commerce said the current system of business rates works well in the main but complained some firms were being charged disproportionately.
"We do have concerns about the steep rises that many small firms will face a result of the revaluation process," said David Frost, BCC director general.
"We supported the increase in the small business rate relief scheme threshold to £10,000 and believe that this should be regularly reviewed to ensure that the burden on small businesses does not become excessive."
Earlier this week, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) claimed the revaluation process means retailers are being hit by an average 15.7% rise to business rates.
The organisation called for rate relief to be extended to premises valued at less than £25,000 rather than the current £10,000.
