- Bosses of M&S and Sainsbury’s call on Hunt to shake-up business rate system
- UK business rates are set to increase by 6.7% next year
A host of major retailers have called on the Chancellor to take action on business rates to revive the High Street.
With less than two weeks to go to the Autumn Statement, bosses of household names including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Currys urged Jeremy Hunt to cut or freeze the metric used to calculate property tax bills.
Business rates are set to increase by 6.7 per cent next year.
Under pressure: Jeremy Hunt is under pressure to act on business rates
This translates into a £470million hike for Britain’s retailers, according to lobby group the British Retail Consortium.
There have been warnings a hefty tax bill increase could mean retailers are forced to push up their prices, defeating the government’s mission to bring down inflation.
Retailers have also expressed concern about what a heavier tax burden could mean for struggling high streets across the country amid high empty shop rates and a scourge of shoplifting.
Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, branded high rates a ‘blocker to the regeneration of our towns and cities’.
Warning that further increases ‘threaten to divert millions of pounds away from ongoing investment in keeping prices down and creating jobs across the country’, he added: ‘The retail sector is disproportionately impacted by business rates at a time when the Government is looking to tackle inflation and consumers are still struggling with the cost of living.’
Speaking out: Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts said the supermarket spends nearly £500m a year on business rates
Echoing this sentiment, Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts said the supermarket spends nearly £500million a year on business rates, its largest tax bill.
‘If there’s one issue I am concerned about that could interrupt food inflation coming down, it is choices made in the Budget on business rates,’ he told The Mail.
‘There is clearly a risk that any increase will bring further pressure on food prices.’
The so-called business rates multiplier was frozen this year to provide businesses with some respite. But without action, it will go up in April next year.
Alex Baldock, chief executive of Currys, said the retail sector was ‘over-taxed’ and an increase in rates would allow Amazon ‘a free ride while British retailers bear the burden, and while our town centres continue to be hollowed’. Pubs and restaurants have also urged the Chancellor to call off a planned hike to business rates, warning of a potential slew of closures.
Television chef Tom Kerridge said that the ‘stark reality’ was that hospitality firms had been battered by rising costs and many would be forced to close without further Government support.
More than 200 hospitality bosses signed a letter to Hunt, including Burger King, Fuller’s, Greene King and Mitchells & Butlers.
A spokesman for the Treasury said: ‘Inflation is falling and it is our priority to halve it.
We continue to back our businesses which is why we have taken one third of properties out of paying business rates altogether, spent billions slashing bills for retail, hospitality and leisure by 75 per cent and have effectively cut corporation tax by £27billion via full expensing.’
