Higher business rates aimed at ‘online giants’ will hit 1,900 superstores and hypermarkets

Supermarkets have been dragged into the firing line of Labour’s promise to raise business rates for online giants, with 1,900 superstores and hypermarkets facing a tax hike.

Draft legislation last week paved the way for business rates to be lowered from 2026 for smaller retail, hospitality and leisure properties with a rateable value of under £500,000. The discount is to be paid for by increasing business rates across all sectors for properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or more, on a per property basis. The new rates are to be set in next year’s budget.

The Treasury has claimed the higher rate will affect only the most valuable 1% of business properties while the lower one will boost high streets.

It follows Labour’s manifesto pledge to reform business rates in a way that would “level the playing field between the high street and online giants”.

Business rates: Who’s lumped in with ‘online giants’?

However, across England and Wales, the higher tax will hit more superstores and hypermarkets than it will large distribution warehouses, at 1,900 versus 1,500, according to analysis by property consultancy Colliers.

On top of the 1,900 superstores and hypermarkets, the £500,000 and upward threshold in rateable values drags another 800 shops and 65 large food stores into the higher tax bracket.

The most hit sector is offices, where 4,500 properties will face the higher levy.

The country’s biggest supermarkets will be hit across their stores, distribution centres and offices. Tesco has about 500 properties in the firing line, Sainsbury’s 360, Asda 330 and Morrisons 130, according to the analysis. 

Waitrose has about 150 properties in the crosshairs, M&S 110, Lidl 50 and Aldi 16.

However, Lidl and Aldi will also benefit from the majority of their stores being below the rateable value threshold and eligible for the reduced tax rate under the plans. 

Read more: Why physical retail will be punished by government’s business rates reforms

The supermarkets are joined by a long-list of non-food retailers in line to pay the higher rate in some locations, such The Range owner CDS Superstores, with 30 properties above the threshold.

Suppliers are also heavily targeted, with 1,175 factories, workshops and warehouses in the higher tax bracket, along with 688 large industrial units.

About 300 NHS hospital are also in line to pay the higher tax rate under the current proposals, along with 630 local authority schools and 77 police stations.

A Treasury spokesman confirmed the higher rate was intended to be applicable to properties above the threshold in all sectors but said a range of priorities were being considered. He said the Treasury was also considering pressures facing government departments including the Department of Health & Social Care, as part of phase two of its spending review, including any impact of the planned higher business rates multiplier.

Source: Colliers

Defending the plan in an opinion piece in The Grocer this week, Treasury minister James Murray said it “not only shifts the tax burden away from the high street but will help make sure online giants pay a fairer share”.

He said the higher rate would “capture the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants, as well as other out-of-town businesses that draw footfall away from high streets”. 

Colliers head of business rates John Webber said: “This was touted as a way of capturing money from online giants to help high streets – which we thought ridiculous in the first place – and the reality is it’s also capturing every major manufacturing facility in the country.

“It looks like a mess that someone dreamt up too quickly.” 

Smaller retailers welcomed the plans when they were outlined in a discussion paper published by the Treasury in October but have come out against them this week as a fuller picture has emerged. 

Large shops “play a vital role providing the all important footfall draw that smaller operators rely on”, said Vivienne King, chair of the Shopkeepers’ Campaign.

“So in fact it’s not only the online giants that will be covering the cost, nor is it only the very largest superstores. It’s also the large shops which serve as centre anchors for everyone else.”