Stuart Machin, Marks & Spencer ceo has called on the government for ‘fairness’ by cutting back on business rates.
‘Running a shop costs a lot more than running an online business, and a large part of that is down to business rates which have zero link to profits or, indeed, reality. It’s why the total tax rate for retailers is around 70% and why it pays 25% of all business rates despite being 5% of the economy,’ he says.
‘And it’s why high streets and city centres are increasingly full of vacancies and dodgy shops: rates have gone up by the same amount as retail property values have gone down. Frankly it’s daylight robbery. As retailers our job is to innovate and take the tough decisions to keep our businesses going and – if we can – growing in really tough times. So we can keep employing millions of hardworking people, support UK farming which is on life support, invest in our stores so they carry on acting as anchors across the country, and support the public purse.
‘As we look ahead to this week’s fiscal update, all we ask from Government is a fair shot, and that means reducing the rates multiplier back to its original 1990 level from over 50p in the pound down to 35p in the pound. We don’t want handouts – we just want fairness.’
