MPs are increasing pressure on the government to consider scrapping the system of business rates that many retailers blame for the decline of the UK high street.
The influential Treasury select committee on Friday launched an inquiry into the impact of recent changes to business rates policy, asking whether alternatives, including a tax based purely on land values, could help high street retailers survive the rise of online competition.
Property-based taxes constitute an unusually large proportion of overall business taxation in the UK, with many businesses paying more in business rates than they do in corporation tax.
