Unfair to shops

Is it not time Government here created a level playing field for retailers? The rise in recent years in online retailing has outpaced the growth rate in total retail sales and been hitting our High Streets hard, besides clogging them up as more delivery vans provide their door-to-door services.

Our present tax system seems unfairly biased towards the Amazons of this world while bearing down on the bricks and mortar retailer, especially those running small businesses.

Of course, there is also a European Union dimension. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has been chasing up Apple over its tax advantages and we know Commission President Jeanclaude Juncker, when Prime Minister of the tiny Luxembourg, was only too happy to help Amazon. It’s time, surely, for a fairer tax balance.

JIM CRAIGEN

Downie Grove, Edinburgh