Tim Worstall

4 responses so far ↓

• 1 Rob // Nov 19, 2012 at 12:10 pm

  Or business rates were jacked up by councils during the consumer boom but haven’t come down when everything went tits up?

• 2 Ljh // Nov 19, 2012 at 12:18 pm

  I love internet shopping : the widest range of products without having to find and pay for parking and battle for the attention of a shop assistant.

• 3 John Galt // Nov 19, 2012 at 2:39 pm

  Most small shops are pretty marginal businesses anyway, compared to chains.

  A squeeze between:
  - high rents
  - high business rates
  - national minimum wage
  - increased use of the internet for specialist purchases
  - decline in consumer spending

  …was always going to push a lot of shops into insolvency.

  Unless there is a significant change in the above dynamics, expect to see the high street continue to decline.

• 4 SadButMadLad // Nov 19, 2012 at 2:39 pm

  Rob, councils only bill and collect business rates and then pass on to a central pot. Everything else is done centrally, including valuation and distribution of the monies collected.

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