Commercial rates for small and medium-sized enterprises should be linked to their turnover, the annual conference of the Institute of Professional Auctioneers and Valuers (IPAV) heard.

The incoming president of the IPAV, Ronald Duff, told the association’s annual conference in Trim, Co Meath, on Saturday that rates are a most unjust form of taxation bearing no relation to the capability of the commercial business to pay them.

“Unless a proper system is put in place with the necessary staff, businesses will continue to go out of existence,” he said.

“That will mean less revenue for the Government, job losses and loss of morale with the economy driven further into the bowels of the Earth,” Mr Duff said.

The Valuation Bill currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas represents a once-off opportunity to bring about radical reform of the rates systems, he said.