Bosses from Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Marks & Spencer and other major retailers are meeting the Chancellor today to warn against raising taxes in the budget.
Executives will tell John Healey that “choices he makes at the end of month will determine whether more shops open or close, whether retail jobs grow or decline and whether prices rise faster or slower”, according to BRC CEO Helen Dickinson.
Writing in The Telegraph today, Dickinson said retail bosses would urge Healey to raise the threshold at which employers pay National Insurance. They will also tell the Chancellor he should freeze business rates and remove retailers from the surtax introduced for large properties in last year’s budget.
“You cannot tax your way to growth by squeezing the businesses expected to deliver it,” said Dickinson. “Giving one of the most highly taxed industries in the UK more room to invest is a route to more jobs, stronger high streets and greater growth.
“Retail is committed to playing its part. The public, government and retailers want the same outcome. This budget is the government’s opportunity to show that its policies match those ambitions, and make it easier to deliver them, not harder.”
Fears had been mounting that retailers could be hit by a new warehouse tax to pay for a business rates discount for pubs, but Healey is said to have ruled out the move at the weekend. It came after John Lewis chairman Jason Tarry warned it would harm high streets.
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