High street support pledged but gambling firms set to pay the price
Chancellor John Healey pledges high street support funded by gambling tax hikes and an online sales tax crackdown.Summary
Chancellor John Healey has announced further support for Britain's high streets, funded by increased gambling taxes and a crackdown on online sales tax. The duty on machine games with stakes over £1 will rise from 20% to 25% from April next year, a smaller increase than feared, which led to a rally in gambling stocks. The support includes raising the small business rates relief threshold from £12,000 to £18,000, exempting an additional 70,000 firms from business rates, and freezing real-terms business rates bills for qualifying properties in England in 2027-28 and 2028-29. Online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Temu, and Shein will be required to collect VAT on sales by UK businesses exceeding £90,000 annually, closing a loophole from October next year. Gambling firm Entain criticized the machine games duty increase as "another disappointing decision" and warned it would cost an extra £25 million a year, but said it would mitigate the impact by 2028. The Treasury estimates the gambling tax will raise £135 million in 2027-28, and the online sales tax crackdown will bring in £165 million in 2027-28, rising to £320 million in 2028-29.
(Source：Evening Standard)