RUTH Davidson has thrown her weight behind calls for an Amazon tax on online retailers.
The Scottish Conservative leader said it was something Chancellor Philip Hammond “should get his department’s brightest minds to look at immediately”.
It comes after Mr Hammond confirmed he was thinking of introducing a special tax on online businesses in a bid to help struggling high street retailers.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Ms Davidson said: “The Chancellor, Philip Hammond, warned last week that imposing some kind of sales tax on online retailers could require the rewriting of international treaties.
“He also suggested it was something he was willing to examine – going so far as to say Britain could pioneer its own, temporary, measures until agreement could be reached.
“It’s something he should get his department’s brightest minds to look at immediately.
“The advance of online firms was designed to offer customers a new way to do business.
“But if there isn’t a more even playing field between traditional and online businesses, then internet shopping might become the only choice we have.”
Mr Hammond previously suggested a tax on online businesses based on value generated could be the way forward.
His comments came as department store House of Fraser fell into administration before being bought over by Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley.
Business leaders have warned the tax burden on high street shops is disproportionately high.
Ms Davidson said: “The retail sector currently makes up 5 per cent of the UK economy but pays 25% of all business rates, over £7 billion per year.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel