The West End’s top business chief has urged John Healey to avoid adding to high street firms’ “eye-watering” business rates bills.
Writing in City AM, New West End Company chief executive Dee Corsi said the Chancellor must listen to retailers and hospitality businesses who say they “cannot absorb” any more tax hikes.
The industry body, which represents more than 800 high street firms, has warned that the West End could lose ground to other global hospitality and shopping districts if its tax burden continues to grow.
Corsi said Healey must break the trend set by his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, whose two Budgets “heaped costs onto our flagship high street retailers”.
Business rates are the biggest concern for the West End’s retail and hospitality firms, the trade body chief said. 335 shops in the district were caught by the new business rates multiplier which applies for all premises with a value of £500,000 or higher, she said.
The combined rates bill of these shops has jumped from £212m to £274m, representing an average increase of £183,000 per property.
“These eye-watering sums are shaping current business decisions to invest, hire or grow in the capital,” Corsi said.
End business rates ‘cliff edges,’ Healey told
The New West End Company has urged the Chancellor to freeze the higher business rates multiplier, which it says “disproportionately impacts” flagship stores in areas like Oxford Street.
Earlier this month, HMV said it will close its Oxford Street flagship only three years after returning to the street where it founded its first store. The entertainment retailer blamed a surging rent bill.
The bosses of department store giants John Lewis and Marks & Spencer have urged John Healey to tackle business rates at the Budget later this month.
Corsi also called on the Chancellor to shift to a more gradual business rates system, in which bills “rise progressively rather than at damaging cliff edges”.
Healey should also lengthen the existing three-year business rates review cycle to give business more certainty, she said.
“Businesses in the West End and beyond deserve a rates system that is fair, proportionate and fit for purpose, which can drive growth and protect global investment,” she added.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “The Chancellor is prioritising giving businesses the breathing space to invest, grow and manage cost pressures, which is why we are backing firms through business rates cuts, a cap on corporation tax, and a £4.3bn support package to limit bill rises.
“As has always been the case, decisions on tax are a matter for the Chancellor to set out at fiscal events, rather than routinely commenting on rumour, speculation or proposals.”