Online sales tax argument strengthened by Omicron variant to help high streets – The Yorkshire Post says

THE imposition of new Covid restrictions needs to be set in the context of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s initial response to the pandemic in March 2020.
Would an online sales tax help the retail sector?Would an online sales tax help the retail sector?
Would an online sales tax help the retail sector?

Newly in post, he said that he – and the Government – would be there for families and businesses as he launched the world-leading furlough support scheme and other measures.

Yet Mr Sunak’s near-silence over the emerging Omicron variant is ominous for the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors that are still counting the cost of the pandemic.

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They were counting on a successful Christmas to offset their losses. Now they face renewed uncertainty – and little reassurance that there will be special support if Omicron becomes as damaging to public health, and way of life, as previous mutations of Covid.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak.Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

Yet, as the cross-party Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee makes clear today in a very timely report, the economic challenges facing the country’s high streets remain pronounced as Ministers, again, encourage people to work from home wherever possible.

As a result, they’re even more likely to place online orders in the run up to Christmas – and to the detriment of town centres struggling to survive.

However, as the committee headed by longstanding Sheffield MP Clive Betts makes clear, there’s already a strong case for an online sales tax – with the proceeds used to fund high street improvements and levelling up.

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The longer it is put off the Treasury, the harder it becomes to support high streets as Britain – and the rest of the world – comes to terms with having to live, and work, with Covid as the ‘new normal’.

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