Select committee: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee
Recommendation 29
Sixth Report - Supporting our high streets after COVID-19
Published 10 Dec 2021
Paragraph 130
Addressed to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee Supporting our high streets after COVID-19 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
We support the principle of an online sales tax and welcome the consultation. We particularly welcome that revenue from an online sales tax would be used to reduce business rates for retailers. The Government should provide clear timescales for the consultation. Since the future of retail is multichannel due to changing consumer habits, it is particularly important that an online sales tax does not penalise retailers that have both an online and bricks-and-mortar presence. We look forward to further detail on the scope of the consultation, which we recommend must consider: • the impact on multichannel retailers; • the scope of the tax, including which sectors it will be levied on (such as groceries and holidays) and whether it will apply to Click and Collect; • how revenue will offset business rates for retailers in a meaningful way and on a permanent basis; • how the tax may sit alongside work by the OECD to develop a consensus solution to the tax challenges of digitalisation; and • the impact on local authority income.
From: Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Sixth Report - Supporting our high streets after COVID-19 (HC 37), paragraph 130, 10 December 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 29 March 2022 (deadline 10 February 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it welcomes the Committee's report and "shares many of the Committee's key concerns", responding point by point with a mix of agreement, existing measures and commitments to publish further detail.
- On a lessons-learned review, the government "agrees with the Committee on the importance of learning lessons" from the handling of the pandemic and "is committed to doing so", pointing to the public inquiry due to start in Spring 2022.
- On funding, it recognises "the complexity in the existing funding landscape" and "will set out a plan for streamlining the funding landscape later this year", including a commitment to help local stakeholders navigate funding opportunities.
- On changes to the Use Classes Order, it does not accept a sequential test, saying adding one "would undermine the flexibilities introduced to support high streets". It aims to respond on permitted development rights "in due course".
- On an online sales tax, the government "has not decided whether to proceed" and will consider the Committee's issues as part of a consultation open to 20 May 2022.