We WILL target Amazon and Co says Chancellor

THE Chancellor last night promised a tax clampdown on Amazon and other big online companies as he hinted at help for small shops hammered by business rate rises.

Philip Hammond told restive Tory MPs that he was ‘ open to listening’ to the hardest-hit firms in a bid to help their plight.

But he disappointed backbenchers by declining to commit himself to action to alleviate the impact of the business rates revaluation in next month’s Budget.

He did, however, pledge longer term reform to level the playing field between large online firms and small high street shops.

He is said to be looking at reforms to the property tax system to ensure that online firms pay their fair share.

The move comes a week after it emerged that Amazon would pay less in business rates for its warehouses – while independent stores on the high street face rises of up to 300 per cent.

The first business rates revaluation in seven years will leave more than a quarter of companies facing higher bills. But some online retailers have benefited because the value of their out- of-town premises has fallen, while the value of stores in affluent, urban areas has risen.

A series of MPs who attended last night’s 80minute meeting of the Tory backbench 1922 Committee confronted him with examples of firms in their constituencies facing steep rises.

One Tory MP at the meeting said Mr Hammond had said there may need to be some relief for small retailers in areas of high rents.

The Chancellor also apparently warned, however, that he may not be able to do anything soon because the first rates bills were being sent out from next week.

A Treasury source said: ‘He’s open to listening to the issues of those who are hardest hit, but there was no decision either way.’

The source indicated that the Chancellor was looking at a longer-term solution to ease the difference between the traditional high street shops hit by the revaluation and the internet giants whose out-of-town warehouses benefit from low rates.

‘One point that he raised is one of the challenges of the tax system right now is the challenge faced by the digital economy,’ he said. ‘That’s something that you can’t do something about overnight.

‘This is a property tax. He made the point that the growth in the digital economy presents a challenge to that type of taxation and that’s something that has to be explored with HMRC and other departments.’

Last night Tory MP Andrew Bridgen said he was disappointed that Mr Hammond did not spell out concrete help for small businesses.

He added: ‘What ministers need to understand is that all funding for public services is generated by wealth creation from business. It comes from nowhere else.’

The Government says 73 per cent of businesses will see their rates cut or stay the same, with some 600,000 firms not paying at all.

Mr Hammond stressed that the revaluation was the subject of consultation with business organisations.

‘He’s open to listening’