Business rate bills to hit a crippling £166BILLION

tHe treasury is set to rake in £166billion from crippling business rates over the next five years as the high street fights for survival.

a total of £31.3billion in business rates will be paid by companies across the country in the year starting on Monday. that is up from £22.9billion a decade ago.

this is set to rise to £31.8billion in 20202021 and then gradually to £34.9billion in 2023-24, according to figures buried in budget documents. Retailers are among those in the firing line. More than 47,000 retailers face an increase of £128million to their rates bill from Monday. this will take the industry’s total bill to £8.7billion.

the squeeze comes amid a bloodbath on high streets as stores face an onslaught from online rivals such as amazon. thousands of stores closed last year and more than 175,000 jobs are predicted to disappear from the high street this year. the crisis has been highlighted by the Mail’s Save our High Streets campaign, which has called for a complete overhaul of business rates and a level playing field between bricks and mortar retailers and internet-only firms. High street retailers pay much higher bills than their online counterparts

Seb James, chief executive of boots, said: ‘We are being bashed by business rates.’