Earlier this year when Next boss Simon Wolfson slammed the idea of an online sales tax we were hoping the idea was dead and buried.
Wolfson - who has close ties with the conservative party and is married to a former assistant to George Osborne - is one of the more sensible heads in the retail sector. Someone able to see a broader view rather than purely the one from his own backyard.
Yes, he has a significant interest in the internet given his Directory business accounts for about a third of his sales. But his reaction was more aimed at, let us be honest here, supermarket bosses such as Justin King who had complained how the 'burden of tax falls on unfairly on bricks and mortar retailers'. Morrisons boss Dalton Philips was also a supporter of an online tax.
We hesitate to go into all the sides of the argument here but suffice to say that King likened the situation to that in the US. We have pointed out many times that US retailers are avoiding paying tax through a technicality which, amazingly, means that their customers are obliged to pay sales tax when buying over the internet.
New laws currently being pushed through will place the burden at the feet of the retailers themselves. The situation in the UK is vastly different. Online retailers do pay sales tax - VAT - at 20 per cent, just like any other retailer.
They may not pay as much in business rates but they are faced with different rates of returns and higher tax costs though paying fuel and labour for delivery. Arguably, running an online retailer requires a greater level of efficiency all round and equally hefty taxes.
As many have pointed out, the tax spotlight fell upon ecommerce retailers not because they do not pay their fair share, but because of Amazon's tax structure - and its persistent strategy of successfully arguing to investors that it does not need to make a profit!
The issue of business rates are, however, a different matter altogether. There are a good portion of Britain's town centres for whom a better system would at least give local high streets time to cope with the change. The latest review of the frankly archaic business rates system is being put together by the British Retail Consortium and its 'sponsor group' is being spearheaded by, wait for it, John Rogers, the finance director at Sainsbury's.
So why put a supermarket boss in charge?
Lest we forget, the town centre problem Britain now faces is at least as much to do with the unfettered out of town growth of supermarkets and retail parks as it ever was to do with the internet.
We worry that this will simply mean the business rates system might be reconfigured for the convenience of supermarkets. Not only that, for supermarkets - in particular Sainsbury's and Morrisons - for whom lower business rates and an online tax would undoubtedly mean higher profits.
Despite Morrisons much vaunted online delivery plan and Sainsbury's recent announcement that online sales exceeded £1 billion we think that still means their proportion of online sales overall is - or will be in the case of Morrisons - a fraction of rival Tesco. We reckon Sainsbury's online non-food business is literally only about a tenth of Tesco's.
So, we have a couple of potential Trojan Horses here. Firstly, wouldn't it be great if supermarkets could reduce their rates bills and increase profits - and continue to bear down on the rest of the sector as they have done over the past two or three decades.
And secondly, wouldn't it be great if Sainsbury's and Morrisons could at the same time get one over on Tesco by hitting it will a massive online tax bill that they wouldn't have to pay. Both under the guise of helping the high street.
And that's before we even mention the issue of convenience stores - Sainsbury's has more than 500 and Tesco has more than 2,000 across its Express, Metro and One Stop formats. Lower rates would make them all far more profitable.
Chief executive of B&Q-owner Kingfisher, chairman of the BRC, said: 'The Government could unlock a new wave of investment from retailers and support the economic recovery if it indicated that reform will be pursued. A new system that does not punish retailers for keeping shops open would be good for all of us and bring opportunities to people across the UK.'
We feel we have heard this sort of rhetoric before from large retailers - supermarkets promising jobs to Prime Minister David Cameron to help the country out of the recession. The jobs did not materialise.
Ernst & Young will be advising, says the BRC, to ensure the recommendations are 'fair' for both high street and 'off high street business'.
We also hope that voices from firms like Asos and Next who came out to oppose the online tax the first time will also help all sides of this argument to be heard - not just the perspective of 'big box' retailers such as supermarkets and DIY shed operators.
Findings from the review are expected in the new year. We will be keen to see whether it takes us backwards or forwards.
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