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.

Went out for the first time in months due to shielding, the shop was out of stock for everything I needed. Got home ordered online.

I also shop at small independent businesses online. I couldn’t buy those products on my high street if I wanted to. I hope the government doesn’t end up forcing small companies out of business in order to increase footfall to the big high street stores. Realistically I can’t make my toddlers queue outside high street stores anyway so I’ll have to pay the tax, as will many others. It’s just a scheme to raise tax revenue imo.

It's really going to affect the small independents online like those that sell on marketplaces like etsy. They're already more expensive than the high Street a lot of the time and this just pushes prices up that wee bit more that might put people off (or encourage them to buy from competitors overseas who aren't subject to the taxes).

Bad news for shielding, high risk and disabled individuals and for rural communities that don't have a variety of shops on their local high street too and have no choice but to buy online.

Small businesses are already dealing with supply issues and on top of this we've still got Brexit round the corner which may well see prices rise. I get the logic behind it but maybe if the big corps paid their taxes then this wouldn't be necessary...

Any high street shops that don’t have an online presence and slick delivery returns service are dead in the water. Even more so now. Some things are better online. Some just arnt. Some things need to be tried on, smelled, touched and physically looked at. But all the same those shops need to have an excellent online store to back up high street shops. Next have got it right for the moment IMO.

Clothing retailers reopening changing rooms would definitely get me shopping in store again, this wouldn’t

It won’t get me back into the shops, I’ll just spend less if needed.

Whilst people are still travelling, ignoring social distancing, refusing to wear masks etc i won’t be going anywhere near a town.

No parking costs, more choice, no crowds etc make online shopping much more pleasurable.

It’s expensive enough being in the shielding category as it is.

I am furious about this. I am disabled and there is almost nothing on our high streets except charity shops and primark. Even the card shop is shut.

The way people shop has changed. This just won't work

@KenDodd

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

The digital services tax which started in April was designed to do that.

This new proposed tax is on consumers not on the retailers,it's frustrating as it's going to hit hard for the people who can't easily get to shops for whatever reason, disability, being housebound or being very rural. I don't think it's a good environmental decision either, one delivery van servicing a town or lots of cars. We can track our online deliveries and the van comes from a city over to our rural area and will do as many as 100 deliveries all within the same two square miles, that's got to be better than 100 cars?

Some things need to be tried on, smelled, touched and physically looked at
We can’t do that any more though. It was pretty much the only advantage of high street shopping and now it’s gone. Add on the issues with queuing and mask wearing, and it’s clear to me that high street shopping has had its day. I agree with the pp who said we need to repurpose and revitalise high streets, not simply tax people to force them out of the house.

well, in that case I will stop shopping all together (other than food) I have always shopped online. I hate actual shops, work full time with 6 dc and certainly do not have time to traipse around a high street looking for what I need. I have shopped on line for years. It would definitely make me spend much, much less if I was discouraged from online shopping so I suppose that is a win for me, but a bit of a blow to the economy.

Even before lockdown I did around 95% of my shopping online and have done for years. I hope from a range of suppliers and companies, big and small. Apart from one business, neither of my local towns have anything different to any other high street in the country. The small independent retailers went years ago - butchers, bakers, even newsagents disappeaowithin a couple of years of the huge Tesco's and Sainsbury's being built. One of the local high streets has nothing apart from coffee shops, charity shops and beauty salons. Well, there is a Nando's and a bank with a cash machine. The street leading off the high street has four, yes four, 'fitness centres'. The other town centre is full of empty stores where companies like BHS closed down and the space has proved impossible to let. It costs a fortune to park, if you can even find a car park that has spaces since so many people park there and then commute to work by train. Frankly, all an extra online tax will do is make me purchase less overall, it will not drive me back to the high street.

If they want to get me back to the high street then stop the council charging us a £10 flat rate for parking on a Sunday.