Shops hit by unfair tax gap as 57,000 jobs lost

MP calls for level playing field with online giants

THE “BLATANT unfairness” of differing tax demands expected of online and high street stores needs to be re-balanced, a Yorkshire MP has said, after experts found that around 57,000 retail jobs were lost last year in Britain.

Employment fell for the 16th consecutive quarter in the final few months of 2019, with more full-time than part-time job losses, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said today.

The group reports that the continued transformation of the industry – the UK’s largest private sector employer – along with other issues including Brexit and the general election, contributed.

It comes after The Yorkshire Post reported late last month that high streets in the region and northern England had more empty shops and fewer visitors compared with the rest of the country.

Sheffield South East MP for Labour, Clive Betts, who co-authored a report on ailing high streets which was published last February, said that the downturn was part of a “decades-long” trend rather than just a year.

Almost two out of five employers in retail companies are also planning to hire fewer staff in the coming months, said the BRC.

Retailers will be cutting staff anyway following the so-called “golden quarter” covering the busy festive season, according to the group.

More than 20 per cent of all retail sales are internet-based as of December, according to the Office for National Statistics, and Mr Betts called for taxation to be balanced so that online companies pay a greater share in a way that would not affect the pockets of consumers themselves.

Mr Betts and his colleagues on the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, which he chaired, in February last year released a report called High Streets and Town Centres in 2030.

It states that “retailers are paying more than their fair share of

tax, while online retailers are not contributing enough”.

Members “heard that” Amazon UK’s business rates amounted to approximately 0.7 per cent of their UK turnover, while high street retailers are paying considerably more, with business rates as a proportion of turnover ranging from 1.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent, said that report.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post,

Mr Betts said that with growing online sales, the BRC’s research results were “no surprise” and of the differences in tax, added: “It’s a blatant unfairness.”

Mike Cartwright, a policy and representation executive at the West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, today said: “Consumer trends will continue to change and adapt in the future, as online shopping tests the future profile of the high street.

“The retail sector will, we believe, still play an important part in the whole city centre and high street experience as long as it offers quality and good service.”

Amazon UK has been approached for a response about its rates contributions but did not respond by the deadline.