Waterstones joins high street giants in fresh push for rates overhaul

Waterstones has joined with the likes of Tesco, Greggs and Sainsbury’s, to write to Chancellor Rishi Sunak demanding he cuts business rates for shops. 

The temporary Retail Jobs Alliance said it was writing on behalf of organisations employing more than one million people, or a third of the industry’s workforce, Sky News reported. It said the alliance would be “making the case for an overall cut in business rates for all retail premises” and were “open to the possibility of funding this through the introduction of an online sales tax”. 

In their letter to Sunak, the retailers said: “We are all, like you, acutely concerned with pressures on household budgets and the rising cost of living, and we all have a role to play in keeping costs down as far as we can”. 

They said business rates were a “significant” part of retailers’ overheads and that a “meaningful cut in the shops’ tax would make a big difference to retailers’ ability to invest more in the shops and stores” as well as create jobs. 

"This would make it easier for everyone in the retail sector to mitigate inflationary pressures, keep existing shops open and open new ones” they said. 

The move comes after an ongoing debate about the balance between the taxation of physical and online retailers.  

Earlier this year the Treasury launched a consultation on the merits of an online sales tax in the wake of a business rates review that claimed it would save firms £7bn. The Retail Jobs Alliance said it intended to respond to the Treasury’s consultation, which closes this month. 

Lucy Frazer, financial secretary to the Treasury, said at the time: “While we’ve made no decision on whether to introduce such a tax, it’s right that, given the growing consumer trend to shop online, we work with stakeholders to assess the appropriate taxation of the retail sector."