All eyes this week will be on Rishi Sunak as he steps up to present his first Budget. The timing could hardly be worse for the government as they face the twin challenge of containing coronavirus while keeping the economy moving. I suspect there will be some late nights in Downing Street this week.

But behind the headlines lies another problem – one that has been brewing across the UK for years. Britain has an amazing history of enterprise and a bedrock of small and medium-sized businesses – but more recently, we’ve been letting them down.

This is a complex problem and it’s not simply the government’s job to fix it. The starting point is a tax system that rewards small businesses. We have to send the right signals to small businesses trying to grow and invest for the future and we need to unleash the potential of Britain’s entrepreneurs.

“When people talk about the UK economy, they tend to focus on big business at the expense of small business and entrepreneurs”

For too long, the debate about tax has focused on a false choice. We’ve been so preoccupied with the debate between offline and online retail that we’ve missed the real challenge. Moreover, when people talk about the UK economy, they tend to focus on big business at the expense of small business and entrepreneurs.

The best part of my job is being able to regularly meet with small and medium-sized business owners. It’s a privilege and humbling to work alongside them. They are the powerhouses of our economy. They are agile, creative and entrepreneurial. They are the backbone of our business community and they deserve the best support the government can give.

At eBay, we have 300,000 small businesses using our site to sell to new markets. Through our platform, they are able to reach customers they would never have had access to before – here in Britain and across the world.

Interestingly, almost half of these businesses – 47% – have a physical presence as well as a virtual offer. In many cases I see, small businesses that have started off online using eBay and then go on to invest in high street stores.

Bringing down barriers

All the evidence shows that online sales can support offline sales and vice versa. The choice is no longer between online and offline. We need to help both.

To do that, we need to understand the real challenges facing SMEs. What unites so many of eBay’s sellers and SMEs across the UK is that when they try to grow and invest for the future, one of the biggest barriers is tax.

Before the election last December, we ran a survey of over 500 small businesses that use our platform. We asked them what their biggest concerns were for the future. One of the biggest issues was business rates.

“We passionately believe in the power of small and medium-sized enterprises and what they bring”

Time and again, eBay sellers tell me business rates are one of the biggest bills they pay. In countless cases, the burden of rates on UK SMEs exceeds their monthly rent, utilities, logistics and supply chain costs and loan repayments combined.

For a fifth of the businesses we polled, business rates were the single biggest concern they had for their future – bigger than Brexit, competitive pressures or challenges on delivery or logistics.

That’s why this week eBay has joined the campaign for business rates reform. The outdated transitional relief structures notably need urgent attention.

The power of small business

I’m proud that eBay is one of the first tech retailers to join this coalition, alongside the CBI, the BRC and the Federation of Small Businesses.

We do so because we passionately believe in the power of small and medium-sized enterprises and what they bring – creativity in product design, speed and agility of supply chains, intense and aligned focus on customers and trading, and entrepreneurial activity that thrives on taking risks.

We do not think reform is a panacea to offers that are over-spaced and undifferentiated. We do think that done correctly, it will fuel investment in the creation of great products, great customer service and unique and differentiated propositions that can blend the benefits of a physical and online presence to access global and local markets.

People will say: ‘Yes, but tech needs to pay more tax to make up the shortfall.’ But as I wrote in a letter to The Times earlier this week, the debate is no longer whether tech firms should pay a fair share of tax. It’s about how we do it.

The best way, I believe, is through lasting global reform of corporate tax combined with national measures to drive growth and level up the economy in favour of small businesses and entrepreneurs in all our nations and regions.

It might be asking too much of Sunak to achieve all this on Wednesday. But in the long run, it’s what our economy needs.