More than 200 employers have written to the Chancellor, John Healey, calling for an overhaul of business rates at his Budget on 28 October, proposing a 2 per cent levy on online sales to fund a 37 per cent cut in rates for businesses with physical premises.
The letter, organised by the Real Rates Reform Alliance, says the current system places a “disproportionate burden” on businesses that invest in communities and is holding back investment, jobs and growth. Signatories range from hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and the bosses of jeweller Boodles and The Ritz London to galleries, nurseries, cafes, independent shops and business improvement districts across the UK.
They argue that successive governments’ piecemeal approach of sector reliefs and exemptions has produced a system that “picks winners and losers without ever fixing the underlying problem”.
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