For many people the Council Tax - and what to do about it - is a major issue in the election campaign. That's hardly surprising. It's a blatantly unfair tax that was only accepted because it was slightly less unfair than the Poll Tax it replaced. The Council Tax discriminates against - amongst others - pensioners, tenants and single people. (In the interests of transparency I should declare that I belong to two of those three groups!)

So, which party has the best plan for Council Tax reform?

Any tax based on property values is bound to be unfair and no amount of tinkering with it can change that. Hence Labour's plans for revaluation and adding new bands would make no real difference, they'd just be fiddling with a system that's fundamentally broken. Similarly Peter Burt's "Fairer Way" is not the answer since it is still a property tax.

The whole concept of a property tax needs to be ditched. The Council Tax is beyond reform; what should replace it?

The only fair tax is one based on income - both earned and unearned. Most of the parties apart from Labour are proposing some form of local income tax. That sounds like a good idea - local services paid by local taxes set by elected local authorities. Unfortunately it's an idea with a major flaw.

The problem is that some areas are richer than others. Under a local income tax, rich areas can raise money more easily than poor ones - although it is the latter that most need spending on investment and regeneration. Similarly with services: people living in poor areas would either have to pay a higher tax rate or receive less than people in richer areas. That can't be right.

The problem with a local income tax is the word "local". So what would I do?

I'd scrap local taxation altogether. Have an extra penny or whatever added to national income tax with that money hypothecated for local use. The pot should then be shared out amongst local councils according to a formula that takes into account population and needs. That would be simple, transparent and fair.

Some people argue that this would have a negative effect on local democracy since tax raising is an important function of local government. My feeling is that it could actually make local democracy stronger.

Removing the tax raising function from local councils would result in them concentrating on service provision. The differences between candidates would then be their spending priorities rather than who can spend least. Many people today think of their local council as mainly people who send them bills. By emphasising the positive we might get people more interested in local government.

Unfortunately it'll never happen. Local tax raising allows central government to dump the blame for poor services or high tax rates onto local government. Raising the base income tax rate appears unthinkable to most of the main parties. And no chancellor is ever going to accept hypothecation to this extent.

But I still think it would be the best solution.


council tax UK politics ukpolitics

Just a fortnight to go until the Scottish Elections and - surprisingly - I'm still not sure how I'm going to vote.

My overriding priority is civil liberties, which means getting Labour out. I realise that Holyrood isn't responsible for the repressive, illiberal laws of the Blair government in Westminster. But the Scottish Labour party is hardly likely to oppose them either - two years ago they tried to pass amendment S2M-2463.4 in support of ID Cards. At which point they lost any chance of getting my vote.

I want a government in Scotland that will take every opportunity to resist the imposition of measures such as compulsory Identity Cards and the National Identity Register.

So, my current views on the six major parties:

Scottish Labour
I want them to be booted out. Defeated, crushed, humiliated.

Scottish National Party
The SNP are pretty good in supporting civil liberties, however for them it seems to be just one minor issue rather than a core principle. And I'm really not convinced by the idea of an independent Scotland. The thought doesn't scare me, but my preference would be for Scotland to have greater powers within the Union.

Scottish Liberal Democrats
The Lib-Dems are a natural choice for me and they've certainly stood up for civil liberties in Westminster. Unfortunately they also have a hunger for power and I'm afraid that they might let Labour back in with another coalition. Sure, they might slow them down but I haven't forgotten the Holyrood vote two years ago where the Lib-Dems abstained on S2M-2463 which condemned ID Cards as "an unacceptable threat to civil libertes". So I'm not sure I can really trust the SLD.

Scottish Conservatives
I'm old enough to remember the 80s and the damage Thatcher did. It's a mark of how much I despise Blair's Labour party that I might consider voting Tory if I thought that was the only way to defeat Labour. But it isn't so I won't.

Scottish Socialist Party
No. Well-meaning but so, so old-fashioned and strident they just get on my nerves. Until I spoke at an SSP meeting a while back I hadn't realised there were still people around who refer to each other as "comrade" without irony.

Scottish Greens
The Greens up here have been the most outspoken in defence of civil liberties and opposition to ID Cards. It was Green MSP Patrick Harvie who tabled S2M-2463. I also agree with many of the Greens' social policies. However I've never considered myself green with a capital "G" and as a non-driver who rarely travels abroad my carbon footprint is relatively small - so I feel no environmental guilt. Plus the Greens aren't standing in the constituencies anyway.


So, what to do? At the moment I'm thinking of voting SNP for the constituency, Green for the regional list and LibDem first in the Council. But there's plenty of time for that to change.

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