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Amazon has been handed a generous tax boost by the Government – at the same time as 50,000 people lost their jobs on the high street.

The US firm is among internet giants which benefitted from the Tories’ controversial shake-up of business rates last year.

Research claims Amazon’s tax bill on 11 of its gigantic “fulfilment centres” rose by less than £80,000 in total this year.

That is barely half of the £150,000 hike that just one average town centre department store saw its business rates go up by this year.

Meanwhile, there have been hundreds of store closures and in the first six months of this year, 50,000 staff have been made redundant or seen their role put under threat, with most working for high street chains.

(Image: PA)

According to the analysis, by industry expert Altus, Amazon’s tax bill on the 11 properties – the backbone of its business – rose by only 0.7% in April.

Yet rates on a typical department store went up by more than 26% – or 38 times faster.

Many other town centre stores also saw big increases of more than 10%.

The disparity was caused by the way rents on different buildings were used to calculate a revaluation of 1.9 million business properties in 2017.

It disadvantaged town-centre stores by using, in many cases, outdated information and expensive leases taken out in healthier times.

Even when stores should have seen a big fall in their rates bill, the drop was capped.

The study claims Amazon’s rates bill on the 11 sites was around £11million.

But Tesco, for example, paid £700million last year in business rates, while Sainsbury’s paid £550million.

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And while Amazon’s corporation tax bill halved to £7.4million in 2016, Tesco paid £143million and Sainsbury’s £72million.

Amazon branded the findings “misleading and inaccurate”, saying it had more than 100 sites across the UK.

It said: “Amazon pays tens of millions of pounds more in business rates in England and Wales than suggested by the research, and our business rates bill has increased significantly in 2018, including an overall increase at the 11 sites mentioned.”

High street stores are also being hit by the failure of online retailers to charge VAT on goods imported from outside the EU.

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee found HM Revenue & Customs’s failure to collect the right amount of VAT from online sellers cost the taxpayer as much as £1.5billion in 2015/16.

In the past few weeks, House of Fraser has put more than 6,000 jobs at risk with a radical store closure plan, while Poundworld has plunged into administration, endangering a further 5,100.

(Image: PA)

It adds to Toys R Us and Maplin, which collapsed earlier this year.

Former Wickes DIY and Iceland boss Bill Grimsey has conducted a retail review.

He said: “Within the next five years, you could have complete ghost towns, devoid of any people – museum towns with practically tumbleweed rolling down the street.”

Frances O’Grady, of the TUC, said: “Government needs to up its game, boost the economy and invest in great jobs people can live on.”

Mirror launches High Street Fightback - here are our demands

Our high streets have suffered a year of crisis with House of Fraser, Mothercare, Marks & Spencer and New Look closing shops plus Maplin and Toys R Us going to the wall.

But it’s not just shops that are being hit. The axe has also fallen on hundreds of bank branches, plus pubs, post offices and libraries. Yet our town centres are not a relic of a bygone era. They can be – and many still are – exciting, thriving places where people meet and socialise.

Technology has brought about dramatic change but the internet does not have to be the death of high streets. Rather, with the right planning, it can boost them.

Today the Mirror seeks to halt the decline. From levelling the playing field between online and “bricks-and-mortar” retailers, to getting internet giants to contribute more, to having a different vision for our town centres, there is so much that can be done.

Ensure online retailers pay fair business rates.

New tax on online sales, with money going to the wider sector.

Online firms to collect the right VAT from overseas sellers.

New fund to revive town centres.

More rate relief for firms that fill town centre shops empty for a year.

Easier planning laws to convert shops for offices, leisure or housing.

Help councils crack down on landlords with run-down properties.

Give councils more compulsory purchase powers over neglected sites.

Better public transport into towns.

End rip-off parking charges.

'People will be back if retail is part of the community hub'

“There's no point just keeping your fingers crossed,” says local council chief Neil Schneider, who is battling to give Stockton-on-Tees a high street he hopes will inspire the nation.

A fifth of the town’s shops are empty and it has just learned its Marks & Spencer and New Look branches are closing.

But Stockton is full of ideas and was named Rising Star at the Great British High Street of Year Awards in 2016.

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And at the heart of its thinking is a very simple idea – making people want to come to the high street.

Mr Schneider says it must become a “community hub where retail plays a part”, adding: “We have to repurpose our town centres.”

The council has a team dedicated to putting on events and the high street has been spruced up with fountains and lighting. But the authority is also trying to help aspiring shopkeepers.

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It owns a mini-arcade, the Fountain Shopping Mall, where new starters pay from just £50 a week to rent a space – without having to shell out on business rates.

Julia Powell of graphic design firm Just Believe is one of them.

She said: “It’s not just selling to people, we also run workshops.”

Former maths teacher Richard Drake started out in the arcade and now runs an award-winning bookshop around the corner. And Carl Shepherdson, 29, has gone on to own pet supplies boutique Wags and Whiskers, a cafe and another store.

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The council also organises a qualification for people to become market traders, has pumped cash into its library and offers an hour’s free parking. But the most ambitious project is the £17million restoration of the Art Deco-era concert hall.

The Globe had been abandoned for 20 years but in its heyday it hosted everyone from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to Stevie Wonder and Morecambe and Wise.

Now, it will be relaunched as a music and comedy venue with capacity for 3,000 people – and new businesses have already begun to spring up nearby.

The council is ploughing £10million into the scheme, despite Central Government funding being slashed by £73million.

(Image: North News and Pictures)

Yet these initiatives risk being pockets of brilliance amid the run-down buildings blighting the centre.

Part of the reason, says Richard McGuckin, the borough council’s director of economic growth, is many are owned by landlords who either cannot afford to do them up or rarely, if ever, see them.

(Image: North News and Pictures)

“It’s frustrating,” he admits. “We have few powers.

“We can go for a compulsory purchase order that can take 18 months and hundreds of thousands of pounds for each one.”