Gov plans to tax online shopping

[PineappleSquosh]

Haven’t seen a thread about this yet. Apparently the government plans to tax online shopping in an attempt to encourage people to return to the high street.

www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jul/27/rishi-sunak-online-sales-tax-protect-high-streets-coronavirus

The cynic in me thinks the government has seen something we’re doing more of so they’re trying to think of a way to make a profit from it. What’s for certain is that small businesses who sell primarily online will suffer. So will consumers who don’t have access to a range of big high street shops. eg if they’re disabled or live rurally.

Quite discriminatory if you are generally housebound, elderly, in the Shielding category etc.

I’m disgusted in all honesty.

Maybe we should just consider boycotting Amazon. 🤷

I suppose it's one way to get some tax out of Amazon.

I would have thought that online businesses pay a lot less tax than those on the high street (business rstes). If that is the case (happy to be corrected) and if you want to make the high street more viable then this seems a reasonable approach.

It seems ironic to me that many people have been complaining that the loss of services from the high street is really detrimental to vulnerable customers, but now trying to support the high street is now also bad for vulnerable customers.

Given the amount of borrowing the government has had to do recently we are all going to be paying more tax in one way or another to pay it all back....

It's discriminatory and also it won't work. I shop online a lot. For me it is so much more convenient. I can do it whenever I want. I can check multiple shops which may not all be available on my high street. I don't have to get a babysitter or drag unwilling kids around the shops. I don't have to pay for parking or petrol. No time is wasted traveling anywhere. I order and same day, next day whatever it arrives. Even if the price increased it would still not make me actually visit a shop because I generally don't have the time. Instead I would pay the extra for internet shopping or not bother shopping at all.

The high street has been dying for years. It needs reinventing rather than this.

I suppose my question is why do they want to make the high street more viable? Perhaps the high street is a dinosaur that’s had its day? If people want to shop online then why is that bad? The money is still being spent in the economy regardless. By taxing online sales they’re penalising people who can’t get to the high street and small businesses that don’t have a countrywide presence.

If this is targeted at people like Amazon who are not based in the UK for tax I fully support it.

What a great idea.....not.

When the economy is already struggling do something to discourage people from spending money even more! Ffs!

So will something from next online be more than in store?

daft thing is that many of the things I ordered on line (dh vulnerable) are actually from high street shops
I do order odd things on Amazon or similar because of difficulties accessing random things where I live.
& thats the thing as pp said its unfair because it hits people vulnerable to corona, people without access to public transport (which is getting worse because of cutbacks on buses) people living in rural areas, older & physically disabled people etc etc etc
typical - lets just do headline ideas without thinking through the consequences (is it me that wonders if the increase in corona in Spain might be caused by tourists - like ones from the UK - so basically we are banning Spain because we have been there & infected them-Oh the irony!)

my question is why do they want to make the high street more viable? Perhaps the high street is a dinosaur that’s had its day? If people want to shop online then why is that bad?

Do you like having town centres and village centres? Do you like living in a community with facilities? Do you like that people can start businesses and work locally? Do you like being able to pop to the local shops for something you have forgotten? Do you think that young families and older people should have local facilities?

Do you think that our lives will be better if we all sit at home waiting for stuff to be delivered to us?

That is why it is worth saving the high street.

Should make it less costly in rates and so on in the High Street then.

Why not have a Gov subsidy for rates for a year and see how it goes. I dunno, but really there is not much in the High Street to entice me now what with queuing and not being able to try on and so on.

I don't think I will ever go back, and will take the hit in a tax. I would look at it as a saving in parking fees/public transport and so on for the convenience of having it delivered to my door.

The genie is out of the bottle I think.

Won’t make me go into shops. The only thing that will do that is an effective and transparent suppression/elimination strategy for the virus.

If they tax online shopping, I’ll just buy less stuff.

I'm a huge fan of this idea, tbh. About flipping time.
Online shopping won't be dented, but it will raise tax revenue we badly need.

This would worry me I'm physically disabled so struggle to get to the shops, I also have a dc who is shielding and therefore we can't risk going to the shops. As many disabled people have to I live on benefits and therefore I have a restricted budget to start with.
I'd also worry for how the small online businesses will be adversly affected. I'm sure the likes of amazon could afford to absorb some of the costs.

PeanutButterKid

I can understand what you mean, but nowadays most people are wary of crowded shopping centres, high street shops and so on. It won't change many minds really and ok if the tax helps those who need it. Good oh.

I look on it as a charge for me NOT using parking slots or paying for public transport.

Nothing will change me from Supermarket delivery or online shopping right to my door.

I know what day it will be delivered by the tracking system. All good.

So will something from next online be more than in store?
That’s what I’m wondering. Also will click and collect cost more? My local stores are typically quite small and don’t stock all of the items in all of the sizes so I often have to order online.

@PineappleSquosh

I suppose my question is why do they want to make the high street more viable? Perhaps the high street is a dinosaur that’s had its day? If people want to shop online then why is that bad? The money is still being spent in the economy regardless. By taxing online sales they’re penalising people who can’t get to the high street and small businesses that don’t have a countrywide presence.

Really quite a simple answer, the high street employs an awful lot of people. If the high street dies that’s a hell of a lot of people out of a job. Online business doesn’t have nearly the same number of staff, warehouse picking jobs can be done by tec without the need for people so an increase in online shopping doesn’t equate to an increase in jobs in online shopping

Good luck to them...everything’s bloody out of stock anyway. Online shopping has never been so bleak.

You like those jeans?
We have a petite size 6 or a tall size 24

Most of us buy a lot of tat. The most economically insecure ppl are among the lowest users of online shopping. When you're very skint then every purchase is essential & you can't wait 3 days for delivery, you need to buy stuff & have it ready for use as soon as you have any money.

Absolutely awful and unfair idea, as well as a downright stupid one. I rarely go to the high street because I don't have time, and that won't change anytime soon, especially with the queuing that is now necessary. If the tax burden becomes too onerous I'll just cut back on what I buy. It's a spiteful idea that'll hit the vulnerable and the less well off just as much as those who can afford to pay.

And someone up thread mentioned people sitting at home waiting for stuff to be delivered, which was a fucking stupid comment. I don't sit at home waiting, I go to work and I spend weekends taking my kids out to fun, outdoorsy places where they get fresh air and exercise. Would our lives be better if I dragged them round the shops instead? No they bloody wouldn't. And as for popping to local shops, well most of those are run by big companies like Tesco and the like these days, not individual shopkeepers, and plenty of people who would previously have perhaps run shops are now setting up online businesses.

It is a great shame that high streets are suffering, and I think the government should look at things like business rates to help viable businesses. But lifestyles change and penalising people financially because they haven't got hours to spare browsing local shops is not the answer. At least it might put a dent in the inexplicable popularity of Rushi Sunak if it does happen though.

*Rishi

I would hate this. Most of the time when I visit a shop, they don’t have want I want in stock/in my size. In fact, many retailers have business models based on having a limited selection in store and a wider catalogue online, where they advertise ordering in store with free delivery etc.

I wouldn’t bother buying certain things at all if I had to pay extra due to ordering it vs shopping in store.

I live in London too, so it’s not even like I have a limited selection of high street shops, yet I’m still left disappointed with items constantly out of stock.

I wonder if it will only be levied on retailers over a certain size who don’t have a high street presence.

This smacks of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted. Nothing is going to revive the high street at this stage. It’s a revenue raising policy, that’s all.

And as for popping to local shops, well most of those are run by big companies like Tesco and the like these days, not individual shopkeepers, and plenty of people who would previously have perhaps run shops are now setting up online businesses.

^This. I buy from a lot of smaller independent businesses online. There’s no opportunity to do so in my town centre as the place has been monopolised by chain stores owned by the likes of Arcadia Group and Mike Ashley. I don’t want to give a penny to them.