The Local Government Association (LGA) is set to commission research with the aim of drawing up proposals for a new tax on online retailers to support ailing high streets.
The LGA’s People and Places Board this week considered a proposal to explore the idea, which it said could address the shift in retail activity towards online shopping.
In the Budget last month, chancellor Philip Hammond announced the government would introduce a new 2% tax on the revenues of some digital businesses.
The agenda for the board’s meeting said: “The LGA has called for measures to be taken on retailers who may not pay business rates on retail premises and we welcomed this as a first step.
“However, we believe a portion of the money raised from this measure should be used to fund local services and, in turn, are of the view that more needs to be done to develop the detail of how such a levy might benefit public services and local retail economies in practice.”
