'The last thing we would want to see is retailers being hit by an online sales tax.'

That was the message from the leader of Cumbria Chamber Commerce after department store chain M&S wrote to the chancellor warning an online sales tax would damage the High Street. 

The government concluded a three-month consultation into introducing an online sales tax last Friday. 

Suzanne Caldwell, managing director for Cumbria Chamber of Commerce, said: "We understand that the argument from M&S is that if businesses that operate both online and on the high street are hit by an online sales tax they will make cuts to the least profitable elements of the business such as high street stores." 

In 2020 M&S closed their high street store in Barrow, followed by Brighthouse, Carphone Warehouse, Thorntons, River Island and Topshop. 

READ MORE: https://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/18670828.calls-help-save-barrow-high-street-nearly-dozen-shops-close-past-year/

At the time MP Simon Fell said that local people needed to support independent businesses in Barrow. 

Even independent businesses now often use e-commerce platforms such as Etsy. According to research by Growth Intelligence more than 85,000 businesses across the UK launched online stores or joined online marketplaces in the first four months of the pandemic. 

Mrs. Caldwell said: "It does appear that this is a push by M&S for businesses that adopt a hybrid approach (online and on the high street) to be treated differently from those that sell entirely online. This doesn't seem unreasonable." 

The Treasury made the argument for introducing an online sales tax through saying that it would reduce business rates. 

High Street retailers have to pay more in business rates because it is based on property. An e-commerce business that may have a small office or even run from a home has to pay far less in rates than a high street retailer. 

The Treasury decided last year that there was no case for fundamental change, with the tax raising £25 billion a year. 

According to the consultation document, an online sales tax of 1% could raise about a billion pounds per year, which would help reduce business rates in England.