LIVE, NAA, MVT, BACH urge Government rethink on tax hike ahead of critical Autumn Budget
13 October 2025 - Press releaseThe live music sector has written to Government calling for an exemption for live music venues from the new higher business rates multiplier for large properties.
The Government's new business rates policy will raise business rates for buildings with a rateable value of over £500k and is explicitly targeted at Amazon-style distribution warehouses. However, as currently designed, it will penalise live music venues, ignoring the significant economic, social, and cultural benefits venues deliver to communities across the UK.
Research shows that every 10,000-capacity show at an arena generates around £1 million of additional spending in the community – driving activity on the high street, benefitting businesses and supporting jobs.
Arenas also generate significant tax receipts for Government, including over £100m in VAT annually from ticket sales and ancillary income sales, as well as other taxes raised in our venues. The wider economic activity in local communities spurred by events at arenas, also delivers tax returns to the Treasury.
Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE, the representative of the live music sector said: "Arenas and music venues already operate on very tight margins and many simply do not have the ability to absorb additional tax pressures. Without an exemption, this tax rise will unfairly penalise arenas and live music venues – holding back growth, increasing costs for consumers, and putting local jobs at risks."
The letter was coordinated by LIVE, National Arenas Association (NAA), Music Venue Trust (MVT), and British Association of Concert Halls (BACH), and signed by 14 arenas and iconic venues.
The groups are requesting an urgent meeting with Dan Tomlinson MP, Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, before the Autumn budget to discuss how Government can implement the new legislation in a way that targets those intended, while protecting the UK's music and cultural venues.
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