The Treasury Select Committee has urged an urgent review of business rates after a hard Christmas for some retailers and amid fears that some will collapse.
The call was made in a report sent last week to Chancellor Philip Hammond, The Mail on Sunday reported.
Members of the committee, chaired by Conservative MP Nicky Morgan, were warned that the business rates burden on retailers is resulting in “damage” to high street shops which are disadvantaged by etailers and out-of-town stores.
They called on the Government to “urgently investigate” shortening the time between rate reviews.
The five-year period between reviews has resulted in steep rate hikes in places such as London where property values have rocketed.
A plan discussed in 2017 to reduce the gap between reviews to three years is not enough, MPs believe.
The committee said: “Business rates damage the competitiveness of shops on the high street relative to large out-of-town distributors and online retailers.”
Argos chief executive John Rogers told The Mail on Sunday: “It is no surprise the profit warnings tended to be from those companies that predominantly have a high street presence, because they are paying a cost to their business that’s not borne by most of their online competition.”
Rogers, whose business spans high street stores to online, added: “What’s required is not just incremental changes, but a much more radical reform.”
No comments yet