British booksellers have warned MPs that taxation of Amazon and other digital retailers must be overhauled if the bookshop industry and the high street are to survive. The BA, which said the number of independent book shops in the UK had halved to 858 since the US retailer’s UK launch two decades ago, added: “Bookshops have closed because of Amazon. Increasingly, fewer Britons are choosing to visit their local shops, which combined with the dramatic cull of bank branches seen in recent years, is contributing to a spiral of high street decline. He was among the authors of a recent independent review that suggested the crisis on UK high streets could leave 100,000 shops empty within a decade. An Amazon spokesman said: “We pay all taxes required in the UK and every country where we operate.

Source: The Guardian September 06, 2018 18:04 UTC