Last Friday (20 May), the UK government closed a consultation into the possible introduction of a tax on ecommerce as a potential measure to fund a reduction in business rates, the property tax that shops, pubs and restaurants are obliged to pay.
Bosses at Sainsbury’s urged the government to launch the new online sales tax, accusing the current business rates system of “destroying high streets up and down the country”. However, retail rival Marks & Spencer said an additional tax on retailers would mean they will “cut their cloth accordingly.”
New analysis by real-estate advisory firm Altus Group shows that for every £100 earned by large retailers in Great Britain, excluding non-store sales and fuel, £2.91 is owed to local councils in business rates.
However, for large online-only retailers, for every £100 in sales, total business rates amount to just 34p, according to the data.
Estimates suggest a revenue-based online sales tax of 1 per cent on the...