British retailers are “searched like a piggy bank,” said Marks & Spencer’s boss, while the sector faces the increase in taxes.
Writing in Sunday Times, Stuart Machin said that retailers were faced with a series of winds, including the increase in national insurance contributions (NICS) paid by companies and higher packaging levies.
He has called for a number of government changes, including defeating the changes in NIC over time.
A treasury spokesman said that the measures introduced into last year’s budget aimed to ensure stability to businesses and create growth conditions.
Machin said many of the budgetary announcements were “laudable”, such as the accent on long -term planning and attempts to strengthen investment in infrastructure.
But he added that if the government wanted to quickly increase growth, “clarify the burden that the budget has loaded in the retail sector” should be a priority.
In the October budget, the government increased the national insurance rate (NI) paid by employers from April and also reduced the threshold that employers start to pay it to £ 9,000 £ 5,000 . April will also see an increase in national decent salary.
The government defended its tax increases if necessary to avoid reductions in public services, and the increase in the minimum wage, with a bigger boost for young workers and apprentices, was greeted by unions.
The Treasury also said that because of exemptions for small businesses, more than half of employers will see a reduction or no change in their national insurance bills.
But the changes caused criticism on the part of companies and, in November of last year, M&S was one of the signatories of a letter sent by the main retailers to the Chancellor asking him to reconsider some of the measures.
Last year, M&S reported a leap in annual profits to 672 million pounds sterling for the 12 months to March. In his article, Mr. Machin said that M&S ”grew, but others are not and there is no doubt that there will be fewer jobs, fewer stores and slower salary in the sector in its entirety”.
In addition to changes in employment rights and the increase in employers’ nicks, Mr. Machin has also criticized a new packaging direct debit which is due in October.
The measurement of the responsibility of prolonged producers (EPR) is designed to encourage producers to pay the complete net costs of the management and recycling of packaging waste, and therefore aims to reduce unsustainable packaging.
In his letter to the Chancellor in November, the British Retail Consortium estimated that the measure would cost the sector 2 billion pounds sterling.
Mr. Machin said that the EPR “would give retailers a tax invoice 20 times the current amount with 2 billion pounds sterling going directly to the treasury as a general taxation and no improvement in recycling”.
“Retail is attacked like a piggy bank and it is unacceptable.”
He called on the government to consider the time of the increase in nicks over two years – echoing a call from the next Lord Wolfson boss – to give retailers “a respiratory space”.
Machin also said that EPR fees should be delayed and that the government should rethink its approach to business rates.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We have delivered a single budget to erase the slate and deliver stability companies, throwing the foundations of economic growth.
“In addition to placing the corporate tax for the duration of the Parliament, we constantly reduce commercial prices for retail, hospitality and leisure on the main street from 2026”.
