First Minister Salmond scraps council tax in Scotland

[Каие]

Alex Salmond has chosen to scrap the council tax in favour of a local Income tax of 3% among a huge number of new legislation including banning the showing of tobacco in shops.

I just wanted to see what people think of;
a) scrapping the council tax in favour of a local income one.
b) the Scottish Parliaments powers...should they be reduced, are they enough? etc.

Article.

Hers what some Scottish politicians think.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...cs/7595656.stm

[Poach]

He's the First Minister btw, not Prime Minister!

Other than that my post is useless, I'm not quite at the age to need to understand taxes, thus I don't know any of this. In my opinion (as a Scot) the Scottish Parliament has a decent level of power, but the SNPs talk of independence is silly, afaik as per the treaty of 1707, even if they wanted to leave the UK, they'd need permission or something to that effect.

And I see you've now sneakily edited the title to make it First Minister!

[Plan C]

I live in a fairly swanky duplex apartment and the council tax is simply outrageous. LIT will save me over 1.5k a year (even with extra 3% off my salary) so I don't see why it's such a bad idea. It's a bit cheeky of old smuggo Salmond to demand that £400 of council tax benefit though, undeniably.

Also - I totally support propsed legistlation AFA closing rural schools is concerned. South-west England is slowly being transformed into a big holiday camp and local communities are in danger of being priced into bigger urban areas. I hope Scotland can turn this process around.

[Каие]

He's the First Minister btw, not Prime Minister!

Prime means First...I did that to let the non-British know of his role.

[King Edward III]

Prime Minister of Scotland?

[Yorkshireman]

This same bill to abolish the council tax came before the Scottish parliament in 2004 and was defeated by 3 to 1. I don't know how much party demographic changes at Holyrood since then, will effect this second try.

This is just returning to the old system we used to have before Maggie introduced the council tax, originally called the poll tax.

[Carach]

Alex Salmond has chosen to scrap the council tax in favour of a local Income tax of 3% among a huge number of new legislation including banning the showing of tobacco in shops.

I just wanted to see what people think of;
a) scrapping the council tax in favour of a local income one.
b) the Scottish Parliaments powers...should they be reduced, are they enough? etc.

Article.

Hers what some Scottish politicians think.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/...cs/7595656.stm

get rid of the devoluted powers all together tbfh. ing disgrace that they were ever implemented.

that being said.. whats the difference. theyre just changing the name/reason for tax ?

personally id like to see absurd things that are 'green measures' be abolished. Taxing us 20 different ways for driving is ludicrous, to name just one. Britain produces a completely insignificant carbon 'footprint' to be getting milked by government as much as we are

[Plan C]

personally id like to see absurd things that are 'green measures' be abolished. Taxing us 20 different ways for driving is ludicrous, to name just one. Britain produces a completely insignificant carbon 'footprint' to be getting milked by government as much as we are

Agreed, especially in the face of "the worst economic outlook Britain has seen since the war". I personally feel it's less cynical than it sounds though, mate. My hunch is that the govt is desperately trying to change people's habits with regards to the use of energy and trying to develop some sort of strategy through which Britain eventually becomes more and more self sufficient (building off-shore wind farms and such). Shame it's enforcing it's ideas on the back of this phoney "green" agenda.

Tragically, I feel that regardless of what energy source eventually will become prevailent, it will still be taxed mercilessly. We can be as green as we flippin like, the government will never cease rifling through our pockets.
Or is it just labour...

that being said.. whats the difference. theyre just changing the name/reason for tax ?

The difference is significant - at the moment council tax is based (roughly) on the valuation of property so those who can't afford it need council tax credit to offset the tax. Under new regulations, tax is directly proportional to income so theoretically no council tax credit is necessary. LIT is also a centralised way of collecting tax; council tax is meant to be localised in a way where taxes are levied and spent locally.

[Carach]

wow..so.. this could actually be a good measure ?

and its the SNP proposing it? wtf is going on.

[Plan C]

wow..so.. this could actually be a good measure ?

and its the SNP proposing it? wtf is going on.

Well that depends of course, if you're a seriously high earner then 3% of your earnings will far exceed whatever the amount of council tax you normally pay. But hey, SNP are socialists at heart, much more so than Labour. Nothing is ever fair to everybody so there will always be some disgruntled voices saying that this is a rip-off measure and a blunder but I'm personally ok with it. My 2c.

And yeah, it's true that the English pay more in some respects but that's not always the case. Since I moved up to Glasgow I'm shocked to find that petrol is more expensive here than in London, despite the fact that all British-mined crude actually comes from Scotland. People here love to moan either way but I guess their have a right to feel a bit cheated seeing as petrol here is by far cheapest in EU before tax and yet so ing dear at the pumps (and wages here are nothing compared to London).

[LoZz]

paid for by your loving english tax payer <3.


he is a fool to wait till 2010 for the vote. labour could be out of power by then and a more popular government could be in power in westminister, he should do it now, while the iron is hot so to speak.

[Carach]

paid for by your loving english tax payer <3.

woohoo for us paying everyone elses way!

[Shaun]

woohoo for us paying everyone elses way!

Thanks. Appreciate it.

[Каие]

Shaun, what would the scots do if devolution was abolished?

[Poach]

I'd be happy Rome! I dislike all this talk of independence, I like living in Scotland and I like being British, if forced I'd simply move to England.

[Каие]

Good, because I'm gonna get rid of it.

[Carach]

Good, because I'm gonna get rid of it.

get rid of what

edit: ohhhhh.. the devolution thing? (sorry im really slow..)

[Каие]

Devolution!