Nice to see somebody sneak this into City AM...

From City AM/Opinion, :

How business rates reform can thwart the retail apocalypse

... Some have suggested a digital sales tax – in essence penalising tech firms for carving out a more efficient business model, one from which consumers benefit in the form of lower prices and added convenience. Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, wants to forcibly seize property from landlords and hand it to community projects and coops. Both are wrong-headed...

Retailers face myriad challenges and we at The Entrepreneurs Network have long called for business rates reform. Blanket cuts will only benefit the biggest landowners like the Duke of Westminster rather than high street shops or their customers. Instead we need to reassess rateable values upon the underlying land value of a commercial site.

As research from Centre for Cities highlights, not all high streets are struggling. In Brighton, vacancy rates are as low as seven per cent.

Online sales currently make up just 17 per cent of the total British retail spend, and tech giants are themselves moving into physical retailing: Apple has stores across the world, and in June Amazon began opening pop-up shops across the UK.