Hammond told: use tech tax to rescue high street

THE CHANCELLOR is under mounting pressure to reform the tax system to support struggling high streets and make technology giants Google, Facebook and Amazon share more of the burden.

The leaders of Britain’s biggest restaurant and pub owners have written to Philip Hammond to demand that he use the proceeds of any new tax on digital services to freeze business rates, amid claims that eight high street outlets a day are being forced to close.

The letter, seen by The Daily Telegraph, is signed by 32 of the hospitality industry’s biggest names. They include Whitbread, the owner of Premier Inn; the brewer Greene King; and Casual Dining Group, which owns Café Rouge and Bella Italia. Merlin, owner of Madame Tussauds, also backed the call for reform.

The group urges Mr Hammond to double the threshold at which employers must pay national insurance contributions, to cut red tape and to hand control of the National Living Wage to an independent commission.

The letter states: “The health of the high street is often how consumers and voters judge the health of the economy … and what they are seeing is damaging consumer confidence.”

Mr Hammond is considering a levy on tech giants who pay little corporation tax due to their use of lawful avoidance structures.