The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has welcomed the election pledge of the Labour Party to scrap business rates.
At this week’s Labour Party Conference in Brighton, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said that a Labour government would immediately cut the business tax, before eventually phasing it out completely.
The reform would look to shift the burden from the high street to online giants.
Bira has long campaigned for fairer taxation with a bigger proportion paid by the online giants.
Bira’s CEO Andrew Goodacre said:”Bira welcomes Labour’s announcement to scrap business rates.
“It is obvious that the rates burden must be reduced to aid the recovery and protect the high street.
“Well done to Labour and I hope that the Chancellor makes a similar pledge in his autumn statement at the end of October.”
