Burnham urged to go further to fix ‘broken’ business rates

Hospitality and retail industry leaders have urged incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham to expand his plans for reforming the unsustainable business rates system. While Burnham pledged to slash rates for high street firms, the Real Rates Reform Alliance argues he must go further. The coalition proposes implementing a 2% tax on all online sales, which they claim would enable a 37% reduction in business rates for bricks and mortar firms to fix the broken system.