The Executive has now agreed that preparations need to be put in place to undertake a revaluation of non-domestic properties in Northern Ireland in 2015, aligning with the rest of the UK.
Mr Wilson said: "I am of the view that the revaluation cannot wait any longer. While I recognise the problems for the struggling businesses in Northern Ireland, it is important to understand that this will certainly not be a panacea for all. It is about restoring fairness in how the burden is shared, not about granting widespread relief.
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"We still have to raise the same amount of money from business ratepayers to pay for public services. Rating revaluations simply redistribute the rating burden between ratepayers based on more up to date rental evidence. Land & Property Services will shortly begin the work to assemble the evidence and begin the process of revaluing around 72,500 non-domestic properties in Northern Ireland."
The Minister explained: "I had to cancel the last revaluation exercise scheduled for 2010/2011. This means that the current Valuation List dates back to 2003 and as we all know things have changed a lot since then.
"Those areas and business sectors that have fared better than others over the period since the last Revaluation will face higher rate bills from April 2015, despite the fact that values have declined across the board since the downturn. Business premises that have experienced rental value decreases more than the average will pay less following a revaluation and vice versa. Many will find their rate bills not changing much. The last time a general revaluation took place almost three quarters of business ratepayers’ rates bill went up or down by less than 20%."
(CD/GK)
