Online sales tax considered in bid to save the high street

chaparral

chaparral

chaparral

Caporegime
Joined
27 Nov 2005
Posts
25,437
Location
Guernsey
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/new...ave-the-high-street/ar-BB17foCf?ocid=msedgdhp

How do you guys feel about an online sales TAX ?

I think it take a lot more then a 2% online sales TAX to save the high street shops.
As a lot of the things i buy online are most likely around 30% cheaper then my local shops plus there the petrol costs to drive to them and the hassle of finding time to go to a local shop to only find out they no stock the item/s your after
 
Last edited:
Why do we need to save the high street? If people are happy buying online let the high street die.

I can't remember the last time I went high street shopping, its just not a pleasant experience. Traffic, expensive parking, no idea if anything you want will be available, general riff-raff everywhere - no thanks.

Online makes sense to me, it's cheaper, more reliable, nore flexible and I'm sure the multidrop delivery system is probably more ecologically friendly too.
 
Last edited:
Unless it is a long long way down the line a very bad time for it IMO - we need people spending more and for awhile to come I suspect people are more likely to just not spend than swap from the convenience of online to going to the high street.

To save the high street is probably going to need some considerable revamping of the high street in this day and age especially when it comes to things like parking.
 
Democracy, free market, capitalism and here we are talking about our government taking action to interfere in a market.
It's a great shame but times are changing and IMO it's inevitable. The large online stores like Amazon would likely renegotiate with their suppliers to claw back as much of that 2% as possible anyway.
The good high street stores will likely survive and thrive but just have a lot less of them.
 
2% wouldn’t make enough difference, not that I think we should implement the tax at all...

I can’t stand going shopping, but I know a lot of people that love it. It would be nice to be able to keep both industries alive, however I can’t see it being possible due to the convenience online shopping brings.
 
Save what high street? Our local high street has been dead for years, even the charity shops are moving out and being boarded up now. Besides, the cynic in me thinks that any monies raised by this taxation will get nowhere near saving anything North of the M25.
 
We should also do something to support the horse and cart companies who are going out of business due to these newfangled automobiles. :p
 
Make it easier to shop in the high street. Free park and ride / free parking for shoppers would be a start for your typical town centre that's not London etc.
 
SonicSW20 said:
Make it easier to shop in the high street. Free park and ride / free parking for shoppers would be a start for your typical town centre that's not London etc.
Click to expand...

Or just better parking with a decent thoroughfare to the high street - so many places it is awkward parking (with a mismatch of unpredictable free and pay mechanisms) and a poorly thought out route to and through the high street, etc. (obviously sometimes there are actual reasons for that like historic buildings or the geography).
 
Rroff said:
Or just better parking with a decent thoroughfare to the high street - so many places it is awkward parking (with a mismatch of unpredictable free and pay mechanisms) and a poorly thought out route to and through the high street, etc. (obviously sometimes there are actual reasons for that like historic buildings or the geography).
Click to expand...

Or just accept that the world is changing, the high street is dead. Far better to re-develop them into something more useful to modern society - such as cheap affordable housing, or even *shock horror* council housing to help with the #1 issue we have in this country, rather than keep alive a dying trade from a bygone era.
 
Devilman said:
Or just accept that the world is changing, the high street is dead. Far better to re-develop them into something more useful to modern society - such as cheap affordable housing, or even *shock horror* council housing to help with the #1 issue we have in this country, rather than keep alive a dying trade from a bygone era.
Click to expand...

Especially in this day and age convenience is a huge factor - the high street isn't necessarily dead but people won't put up with complications of a bygone era when they have options.
 
For the love of god can we just put the high street to rest once and for all. This constant propping and forcing to try and keep something alive which has zero hope of surviving in this online shopping, post covid world we live in is tragic and sad.

Take all the remaining shops and shuffle them in to smaller parts of their respective streets, turn the boarded up units in to accommodation and sell them to the former high street workers / owners at reduced rates.
 
Devilman said:
Or just accept that the world is changing, the high street is dead. Far better to re-develop them into something more useful to modern society - such as cheap affordable housing, or even *shock horror* council housing to help with the #1 issue we have in this country, rather than keep alive a dying trade from a bygone era.
Click to expand...

Agreed. The main high street existed to allow you to get all your things in one place, you can do that online now for most items. I suspect we'll see a rise in many more local shopping areas where people don't want to travel far away from their homes for the items they can't get online, and out of town centres for the biggest retailers who can afford a physical presence.

The age old corner shop, I predict, will make a massive come back one the high street collapses and people accept that it just isn't needed any more, it will die out with the older generation who need it/cling on to it.
 
Minstadave said:
Why do we need to save the high street? If people are happy buying online let the high street die.
Click to expand...

Exactly. If people don't want to use the high street, you won't tax them back to it.

I know that if it did come in, I'd stay with online shopping out if spite :D
 
Let it die. Shopping has changed. People are used to limitless choice. A high street just cannot supply the modern efficient floor space required to provide for the modern shopper.
 
Dyson said:
I know that if it did come in, I'd stay with online shopping out if spite :D
Click to expand...

Which is probably the real motivation here. Tax the online retailers making them look like the problem, paint the high street as the poor victim that needs help, and everyone keeps shopping online anyway generating a nice juicy tax revenue for the Government. The high street will still die even with the subsidised rate but the online tax will remain.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom