When he presents his first Budget later this month, Chancellor John Healey won’t have many ‘bash the rich’ or ‘hammer big business’ levies to cheer up his backbenchers. A stiff rise in capital gains tax has been ruled out and the threshold for the mansion tax most probably won’t be lowered. It looks likely, however, that Healey will introduce an online tax crackdown. But is there a chance this could backfire?

In the Budget, Healey is expected to announce that online marketplaces, such as Amazon, eBay and China’s Temu, will be forced to be responsible for collecting the VAT........

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