"The business rates system is no longer fit-for-purpose" and "is particularly damaging for the retail industry", said the British Retail Consortium, which has published a report calling for a reform on business rates, adding that it wants to work closely with the Government on the issue.
The BRC said that business rates, which have now increased from £5.5bn to £7bn a year, are the only national tax where the revenue is fixed in real terms and it is fiscally neutral, meaning it never drops, regardless of the economic circumstances. It added that reform would have economic benefits, including a boost to jobs.

In its recommendations, the BRC said big changes will take time to implement but it agreed with the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) that a 2% cap on business rates increases in the short term, "would be welcome". Other suggestions in its exploration of reform included, "changing the way the current tax works through repealing it completely".

Theo Paphitis has also come out in support of the BRC. The Robert Dyas bossr agreed that business rates are, "no longer fit for purpose", telling the Evening Standard, "what we have here is a ticking time bomb. We have to address the issue sharpish." Fellow Dragons' Den star, Duncan Bannatyne, also showed his support on Twitter, writing, "I fully back @TheoPaphitis on this".

The BRC pin-pointed the hefty increases in tax and business rates in recent years, highlighting that, for every £1 in corporation tax, retailers now pay £3.05 in business rates, up from £2.48 from the financial year 2005-06. It also stated that, as the number of high street shops reduces, "the cost of the business rates for the remaining shops will rise even faster", pushing more of them to close as a result.

The structural problems of taxation and business rates, the BRC said, have been recognised formally, and the last Government review of local taxation concluded that they needed to be looked at and kept "under review".