WHATEVER happened to the SNP’s flagship policy over the past nine years of local income tax? And who would have forecast that the “unfair, hated council tax” – as described by the SNP in the past – would become the SNP’s latest local tax policy, albeit with minor changes to bands E, F G and H, which only marginally increase the multipliers with respect to band A charges? Consequently, the changes fail to change the regressive nature of the tax. This is despite the First Minister being on record in 2010 saying “the fact of the matter is that council tax is unfair and cannot be improved by tinkering around the edges". However, this is exactly what she is now proposing.
Clearly, she has chosen to ignore the main recommendations of the independent commission she set up last November. The leading recommendation was “the present council tax system must end” and the final recommendation was “This (the abolition of council tax) is an opportunity that must not be missed”. Yes, a missed opportunity indeed.
In the run-up to the Holyrood election, not once have I heard local tax being mentioned. National income tax appears to have dominated all the discussion. This is despite the fact that probably the majority of pensioners are expected to pay more in property tax than they pay in national income tax.
Alastair Murdoch,
Secretary: Scottish Action Against Council Tax,
7A Crofthead Street, Strathaven.
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