The Bookseller – News – Booksellers urge Labour to reform ‘unfair’ business taxes

Booksellers have called on the new Labour government to review “unfair” tariffs which “disadvantage small businesses”.

Kate Skipper, Waterstones’ chief operating officer, said: “We expect the new government to prioritise further reforms to the seriously flawed business tax system to enable town centres to thrive.”

She added: “The business tax system is outdated, unfair and damaging to the health of high streets and the local communities they serve. Reform will encourage effective regeneration and job creation locally.”

Sam Taylor, co-founder of Max Minerva bookshop in Bristol, said: The bookstore“I hope we will see investment in public and school libraries, a greater focus on the arts and creativity in schools and a recognition of the importance of the creative industries to our economy.”

He added: “On bookselling, I would like to see business taxes reviewed; they are a handicap for small businesses and contribute to the erosion of high streets. It is disconcerting that independent bookstores pay more per square foot than Amazon warehouses.”

Taylor said he doubted any of this would happen quickly and warned that it would take a long time to repair and replace everything that has been damaged and lost over the past 14 years.

Meryl Halls, chief executive of the Booksellers Association, said the BA looked forward to working with the new Labour government “on a range of improvements to high streets and the retail landscape promised in its manifesto”.

Halls added that she hoped to work with other book sector bodies “to engage with labour ministers and civil servants to continue discussions on issues of particular importance to books and culture, such as copyright and AI”.

She added: “More than anything, we are looking forward to working in a functioning political system after a long period of uncertainty and distraction.”