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SNP in Lib Dem talks to abolish council tax

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Published Date: 09 March 2008
By Eddie Barnes
Political Editor
THE scrapping of the council tax will move a step closer this week as ministers publish plans to replace it with a new local income tax (LIT).
First Minister Alex Salmond will hold talks with Lib Dem leader Nicol Stephen tomorrow over the plans, as they seek to find a deal to get the tax through Parliament.

Instead of paying a tax on property, anyone earning an income would pay 3p in th
e pound on top of the income tax they already pay.

Ministers claim 90% of the population will be better off, but opponents last night warned that the SNP's sums wouldn't add up.

It comes after Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told this newspaper last week that the Government would refuse to "subsidise" the new tax.

SNP ministers need to find agreement with Whitehall over £400m of benefits cash which will be required to fund the LIT.

A spokesman for Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "The Scottish Election Study last year showed that 88% of Scots favour a local income tax, and only 12% back the discredited council tax. The task now is to turn that overwhelming public support into a parliamentary majority."

However, Labour local government spokesman Andy Kerr said: "The SNP and Lib Dems are like the two ends of a pantomime horse, each pulling in a different direction and neither knowing which way to go next."

Conservative finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said of the SNP-Lib Dem talks: "All the effort that is going into talking about versions of local or national income tax hikes would be much better spent on reforming the council tax."



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1

OscarMacApfel,

Dumfries 09/03/2008 00:19:54
Yet another case of Salmond successfully doing exactly what the people of Scotland want, deliberately!
2

Tris,

Dundee 09/03/2008 00:36:39


Yes, Mr Brownlee, reforming it into a local income tax.

I read somewhere that Westminster can't refuse to pay us this $400 million pounds; that Purnell was, in fact, talking though a hole is his butt. It is legally ours.

Can't remember where I read it though.

Any ideas?

3

Rossmcl,

Edinburgh 09/03/2008 01:00:31
Roll on LIT! It is the only fair system, related to ability to pay. But thre are 2 problems here...
1. The LibDem and SNP plans differ in detail. That could probably be sorted out by compromise on both sides, BUT
2. They still won't have enough votes! 47 SNP + 16 LibDems = 63 MSPs, and they need 65. Even if Margo can be brought on board they'd still be 1 short. Labour, Tories and Greens are all opposed to LIT. Maybe the Greens could be persuaded to abstain?
4

Scotindy,

Los Angeles 09/03/2008 02:09:51
Well why should we bother with the FCUK let's do our own thing with our own resourses and let them TRY TO STOP US!!!!!
5

KampungHighlander,

Jakarta 09/03/2008 06:49:02
If you tack some financial support for recycling project or composters or bicycle lanes onto the bill the Greens will support it. The Eco warriors can be bought off quite cheap.
6

Foulkes Off the CyberNat,

Edinburgh 09/03/2008 08:29:44
Just imagine what a Government in this country can accomplish with all of the nations resourses at its disposal instead of having to budget on a grant based on locallised regional spending.
And yet unionists will continue to tell us that living off a grant is better than living directly of the income that makes that grant possible.
And many are still stupid enough to believe them even now.
7

connaughtboy,

stonehaven 09/03/2008 09:31:28
So wee Nicol is falling into line at last. He really is a spineless little nerd. I still remember Salmond destroying him over Libdem sleaze just before Christmas. He will do exactly what Salmond tells him to from now on.
8

Hamish Scott,

09/03/2008 10:39:49
So despite LibDem attacks on the SNP and himself personally, Mr. Salmond is going to negotiate with the LibDems to try and get a local income tax through parliament. More statesmanlike conduct from Mr. Salmond - can anyone imagine Gordon Brown doing the same thing?
9

connaughtboy,

stonehaven 09/03/2008 10:53:16
#8 No I cannot imagine Brown doing the same as he is a sociopath. Salmond on the other hand is a consummate politician who seems able to work with the Greens, the Tories, the Libdems and Margo.

Seems pretty statesmanlike to me.
10

Chris Stephenson,

Highlands 09/03/2008 12:55:03
What about wealthy business persons?
Who might pay no income tax but have large Dividends from their companies.
How will this loop hole be closed?
11

Former SNP supporter,

Perth 09/03/2008 13:45:45
Yes, let's penalise the hard working and encourage yet another generation of scroungers.

Scotland needs to encourage the ambitious,who are a rare enough entity in this country already.

My husband and I are doctors from working class backgrounds who live in a relatively modest house. We would be several thousand pounds a year worse off under the proposed policy. Given that working in the NHS is hardly a bed of roses this policy wil encourage a medical brain drain to countries such as Australia which offer a vastly better quality of life. Others wil opt to work south of the border. I would anticipate other professionals paid under PAYE will react similarly. I would have expected this sort of thing from Labour rather than the SNP.

What hope for the future of the country when the most productive are the most penalised?
12

Nikostratos,

09/03/2008 13:45:52
Stephen rents out tax perk home

is that the one who dodgy Alex is dealing with........seems a bit rum to me....Whisky being so expensive soon..................
13

Mr. Lachie Todd,

Edinburgh 09/03/2008 15:10:10
What happened to Nicol Stephen's Unionist beliefs?

It appears that, just like the utterly incompetent
Blue Rinse Tories, the naive Lib-Dems are about to be taken in by the slick talking Nationalists?

Is Nick Clegg actually going to allow the Scottish Lib-Dems to get into bed with the Nationalists just for the sake of political expediency?

IF, Clegg allows Stephen to treat with the Nationalists to abolish the Council Tax and deliver a Scottish local income tax with all the envy and jealousy this will generate Down South, then it is just another nail in the Unionist coffin!

It is high time that these ineffectual Scots Unionists got a grip of themselves and realised that they are the collective majority and the SNP is a minority government with an uncertain future?

Otherwise, the Scots Unionists are sleepwalking into Independence!

14

weh,

09/03/2008 15:12:29
Nothing in this rag (read herald) about Scots Labour tearing itself apart re wendys poor performances-also read J McConnells version of what REALLY happended to him last may!

Strong stuff!
15

An English Voice,

09/03/2008 15:22:19
3. There's a glaring difference in the SNP's and the LD's proposals.

The SNP want a centrally-controlled tax (ie controlled by the SNP, ending local fiscal independence) and the LibDems want the councils to be able to set their own rates (maintaining local fiscal independence).

Quite how the SNP can demand fiscal independence from Westminster while also planning to end it for councils is extremely arrogant, as well as hyprocritical, of them.
16

bill-alba,

Fife 09/03/2008 17:43:06
#18 Thanks for the info..I'm not quite sure why your answering English voice as he won't listen and will be on this forum tomorrow spouting his rubbish.
17

An English Voice,

09/03/2008 18:04:20
18. I'm well aware that councils only raise 20% through council tax. The SNP's stance is to end that control and have a centrally-set and controlled rate.

As their partners in this proposal are against this centralisation of the last of local taxation, of course it's not yet agreed.

But you cannot deny the SNP's hope to control ALL taxation within Scotland.

19. What a pointless post. And from someone who regularly posts ridiculous (and wholly unsubstantiated) claims about UK repression of Scottish interests!
18

Jock 107,

09/03/2008 19:33:36
This will increase what I pay in council tax by about 50%.

Was it really the Libs that first thought of it? I think I'll go Tory next time.
19

Foulkes Off the CyberNat,

Edinburgh 09/03/2008 19:53:31
20

Its an INCOME tax how on earth are local authorities supposed to collect and control an INCOME tax???? maybe we should have oor cooncilors collecting oor NI payments as well??

And what exactly is wrong with the SNP insisting on managing Scotland with its own income from taxation and resourses instead of just on a fraction of these taxes and resources in the form of a block grant???
All the SNP are insisting on is that we no longer subsidies the rest of the UK isnt it time England learned to stand on its own two feet??
What other country in the world allows another country to control its taxation and resources apart from Wales that is???
20

Foulkes Off the CyberNat,

Edinburgh 09/03/2008 19:55:14
21

Aye right of course it will.
21

Reckless,

Gordon Brown shirt 09/03/2008 20:31:40
USA PATRIOT ACT
UK Civil Contingencies Act 2004
Hitler's Enabling Act 1933
22

steve52,

Kinfauns 09/03/2008 21:35:42
Dont like this local income tax. Much better with a local sales tax then all those boozers, smokers, car drivers etc. would have to pay. Of course most of those mentioned are either unemployed or on some other kind of hand out paid for by the rest of us.

Make em all pay.
23

britsout,

camelon 10/03/2008 00:42:23
yeah steve 52 nail them up in their council hovels , sterilise them ,force their children to go up the lums. less tax for DECENT people like YOU to pay . eh ?

 

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