Pensioners’ groups unite to protest against council tax
The Herald
SCOTLAND'S leading charities and support groups for the elderly yesterday called for an urgent review of the council tax, after years of increases outpacing rises in the basic state pension.
Fifteen groups – including Help the Aged, Age Concern Scotland, the Confederation of Scotland's Elderly, and more than six regional pensioners' forums – launched a petition in Glasgow calling for ministers to consider a wide range of alternatives as a means of funding local services.
Pensioners push for tax review
BBC News Online
Scotland's leading pensioners' organisations have joined forces to call for scrutiny of the burden of council tax on senior citizens.
They want the upcoming review of local government finance to look at all the possible alternative forms of funding.
Help the Aged is launching a petition along with groups including Age Concern Scotland and the Scottish Pensioners Forum.
They claim the elderly could pay up to a quarter of their income in tax.
Lib Dems face a taxing time in policy fight
Edinburgh Evening News
IT must have sent Liberal Democrat pulses racing when a St Valentine’s Day leak revealed the Government is considering scrapping the council tax and moving closer to the Lib Dems’ ideal of local income tax.
The weekend stories claimed rising anger over inflation-busting increases have persuaded Tony Blair to look at the idea of a new levy based partly on property values and partly on people’s earnings.
But, of course, any move by Mr Blair will only apply south of the Border. And although the Lib Dems are in coalition with Labour in the Scottish Executive, the signs are there will be no rush to follow Westminster into any abolition of the current system.
Anti-Council Tax Supporters Out In Force
Press & Journal
There was wide support for proposals to scrap the council tax at a public meeting in Aberdeen last night.
About 40 people turned out to hear Scottish Socialist MSP Colin Fox during a visit to the city to discuss the party's campaign to abolish the council tax in favour of a tax based on income and ability to pay.
Council tax to rise 5.25%
BBC News Online
Banner-waving pensioners demonstrated outside Devon County Council's headquarters on Tuesday at a 5.25% council tax increase.
About 40 people joined the protest outside Devon County Hall in Exeter, where councillors confirmed the rise in the authority's council tax from 1 April.
Members of the Devon Pensioners Action Forum lobbied councillors as they arrived for the meeting.
The forum launched its campaign against council tax rises last year when the authority set tax nearly 18% higher.
Reviews could signal end for 'unfair' council tax
The Scotsman
THE council tax could be scrapped north and south of the Border under plans being considered by ministers, it emerged yesterday.
Nick Raynsford, the local government minister for England, is expected to suggest ditching the tax in a speech in the next few weeks.
And Scottish ministers are about to commission a wide-ranging review of local government finance which will also involve discussions on replacing the current system north of the Border with something that is fairer to the poor and pensioners.
Council tax: Why reform is back on agenda
The Herald
RIVAL parties which support local income tax have given the Scottish Socialists' plans for a public service tax short shrift, but even they sat up and took notice yesterday at figures showing that voters are overwhelmingly supportive of reform of the current council tax.
Tommy Sheridan, convener of the SSP, hailed the results of the opinion poll yesterday, saying: "The poll clearly confirms the growing opposition to the unfair Tory council tax and the demand for an income-based alternative.
"It is an enormous boost to the Scrap the council tax campaign."
Most Scots 'oppose' council tax
BBC News Online
Seven out of 10 Scots think council tax is unfair and should be scrapped, according to a survey.
The System Three poll found that 77% of Scots believe it should be replaced by a tax based on ability to pay.
Of those surveyed for the poll commissioned by the Scottish Socialist Party, 12% said they believed the tax should be retained.
The SSP plans a demonstration in Glasgow on 24 April and has launched a petition for the tax to be replaced.
The SSP claimed the results of the survey were a huge boost to its recently launched Scrap the Council Tax campaign
Scots 'Oppose Council Tax'
Scottish Press Association
Nearly eight out of 10 Scots think council tax is unfair and should be scrapped, according to a survey today.
Some 77% of Scots believe it should be replaced by a tax based on ability to pay, the independent poll by TNS System Three showed.
Only 12% of Scots interviewed wanted to keep the tax, the poll – commissioned by the Scottish Socialist Party found.
The SSP said the results of the survey were a huge boost to its recently launched Scrap the Council Tax campaign.
The party is planning a demonstration in Glasgow on April 24 and has launched a nationwide petition demanding the council tax be replaced.
SSP leader Tommy Sheridan said: “Almost 80% of Scots now believe the Tory council tax is unfair and should be replaced by a system based on ability to pay.
“If the Scottish Executive doesn’t heed this they will be cast aside by the tidal wave of opposition that will grow over the coming months.
“We will march in our thousands in April and demand action by an Executive that seems more interested in protecting the wealthy than caring about Scotland’s army of pensioners and low paid workers.”
Tax Rebel Facing Jail
Sunday Mirror
February 15, 2004, Sunday
FORMER social worker Sylvia Hardy, 71, is preparing to go to jail rather than pay an 18 per cent rise in her council tax.
Sylvia of Exeter, Devon, whose annual bill has shot up by pounds 100 to pounds 644 has only been paying 1.7 per cent more - the same as the increase in her pension.
"I don't care if I do go to jail," she said after being ordered to appear in court."I'm not paying this. I'm fully prepared to go to prison."
Council tax to be replaced by new levy on incomes
(note: this would not apply in Scotland)
Sunday Telegraph
Council tax is to be replaced by a combination of property tax and income tax in an attempt by the Government to defuse growing anger among householders before the next general election.
The plan will be unveiled by Nick Raynsford, the local government minister, within the next few weeks when the interim results of a government review of council tax are published.
DITCH THE COUNCIL TAX Unfair system needs overhaul, says poll
Sunday Mail
EIGHT out of 10 Scots think the council tax is unfair and should be overhauled, according to a survey.
The opinion poll reveals the vast majority of Scots want the system changed to take income into account.
The findings emerged in a TNS System Three poll, commissioned by the Scottish Socialist Party.
MELTDOWN WARNING AS COUNCIL TAX RISES BY 5%
Press and Journal
Aberdeenshire councillors called for a bigger budget as they approved a 5% increase in council tax yesterday.
Lib Dem administration members, SNP and Tory group leaders pressed for more central government funding.
The authority is due up to £36million more than it receives, council leader Audrey Findlay said as she proposed the 2004/5 budget.
Scottish Executive grants per head of population are 10.5% below the national average, Mrs Findlay said, despite the council appealing for more through the FairShare campaign.
Protests in Highlands as tax rise goes ahead
Press and Journal
The Scottish Socialist Party staged a protest in Inverness yesterday to demand an end to the council tax.
About 40 campaigners held the lunchtime demonstration outside Highland Council's HQ in Glenurquhart Road after the authority approved its council-tax rate for the coming year.
Councillors yesterday announced a rise of 5.1%, as predicted.
The SSP has now vowed to step up its campaign, both inside the Scottish Parliament and on the streets, calling for replacement of the tax by a fairer system based on income.
The protest was part of a series of synchronised demonstrations outside council chambers across the country by Scrap the Council Tax groups, pensioners' forums and others who complained that the tax is regressive and an unfair burden on senior citizens, workers on low-to-medium incomes and their families.
It marked the launch of what is promised to be an ongoing campaign that will involve a large-scale national demonstration in Glasgow on April 24.
Council tax 'hysteria' fears
BBC News Online
Scotland's finance minister has accused council tax opponents of whipping up "hysteria".
Speaking as the country's councils met to set their charges for the coming year, Andy Kerr said it was a "stable" tax which worked effectively.
Scotland's new council tax bills
BBC News Online
Socialists warn of non-payment campaign against council tax
The Herald
TOMMY Sheridan's Scottish Socialist party yesterday said it was considering a mass non-payment campaign in order to stir up a nationwide "rebellion" against the council tax.
Launching plans for a Scrap the Council Tax rally later in the spring, Mr Sheridan said the option was under active consideration by his party, although he and his fellow MSPs were paying the tax for now.
Scottish Mirror, 10/02/04
IS THERE ANYONE LEFT IN SCOTLAND WHO REALLY BELIEVES THE COUNCIL TAX IS FAIR?;
AS NATION PREPARES TO REVOLT WE ASK..
MARK SMITH
NOT since Margaret Thatcher's Poll Tax was introduced in Scotland before anywhere else have feelings been running so high.
Some people are going as far as to suggest civil disobedience and the revolt of ordinary people across the country.
It may not quite reach the heights of aggression that saw the Poll Tax riots and running street battles.
But people are getting angry. And now they appear to be getting support from their elected representatives in not just Holyrood, but also at Westminster.
The Scottish Executive is coming under fire once again - and this time even the Lib Dem coalition partners are starting to crack on the Council Tax policy that is about to explode.
SSP leader Tommy Sheridan last night called for a united front in the Scottish Parliament to scrap the hated tax.
The Scottish Socialist Party have launched a new bill in the Parliament to ditch the Council Tax and replace it with a local tax based on ability to pay.
And tomorrow Sheridan will launch a nationwide campaign calling on Scots everywhere to take to the streets to oppose the Council Tax.
But there are fears that the hated tax could survive - because of splits among the rival parties who oppose it.
The tax was brought in by the last Tory government when it scrapped the even more widely detested Poll Tax.
But critics claim the Council Tax is unfair because it doesn't take ability to pay into account - just the value of the taxpayer's home.
Pensioners and the low-paid are just some of the people who have been hardest hit by the tax.
And widespread anger at the tax is likely to be fuelled this week when councils across Scotland announce big tax rises.
Labour's Lib Dem coalition partners want to scrap the Council Tax - as do the Scottish Nationalists and the Greens.
So Sheridan last night called for all parties who want rid of the Council Tax to band together to scrap it.
He said: "Most parties in the Parliament now want to abolish the Council Tax.
"So surely this is an issue which we can unite around.
"The SNP, Liberals, Greens and independents want to see this unfair tax abolished, only the old Tories and New Labour Tories want to keep it.
"We are hoping for cross party support for our bill to abolish the Council Tax and replace it with a fairer tax that is based on the ability to pay.
"The bill is purposely framed to enable the Scottish Parliament to have the Council Tax abolished at the earliest moment possible."
His call came as the UK Lib Dems launched their new campaign against the Council Tax yesterday - branding it "unfair and unpopular".
Lib Dem peer Lord Newby outlined his party's plans for a replacement local income tax.
He said it would be based on people's real ability to pay and would also mean tax cuts for many millions of pensioners and ordinary families.
Lib Dems claim a local income tax would leave 70 per cent of households either better off or unaffected.
Lord Newby said: "The Council Tax system is the most unpopular, unfair tax in Britain today. It should be scrapped in favour of a local income tax."
The Lib Dems in Scotland - who are tied to Labour in the coalition which controls the Scottish Parliament - have already confirmed that they want to scrap the Council Tax and replace it with something more fair.
But so far they have refused to back Tommy's bill -- because they disagree with his proposed alternative, a Scottish Service Tax based on the ability to pay.
The Scottish Nationalists are set to announce their own plans for a local income tax to replace the Council Tax next month.
But they also disagree with the SSP's alternative - so may not back the bill.
An SNP insider said: "The problem with the SSP proposal for a Scottish Service Tax is that it is not a proper local income tax, because it will be collected centrally. Their tax would also be too punitive for the well-off.
"Our own proposals will be similar to those being proposed by the Lib Dems.
"We believe that the only system which meets the key criteria of being both socially just and genuinely local is a local income tax."
With the SSP, Lib Dems, SNP and Greens committed to scrapping the Council Tax, Jack McConnell could be left relying on the Tories to keep it in place if it came to a crunch vote in the Scottish Parliament.
Labour are committed to keeping the tax and reforming it, making it fairer on the poor by tinkering with the levels of Council Tax bands.
But they have stopped short of calling for it to be scrapped.
Pressure will be piled on over the Council Tax in the next few days, when large increases are expected to be announced by Scots councils.
Demonstrations are being planned outside council HQs in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness and Glenrothes over rumoured Council Tax price hikes.
There are also plans for a mass demonstration against the tax on April 24 in Glasgow.
The SSP's campaign will see more than a million leaflets being put through doors outlining why the Council Tax should be scrapped.
And there will be a nationwide petition calling for an end to the tax and it being replaced with something fairer.
The SSP are also launching a website allowing people to see how much they would save under their proposals for a Scottish Service Tax.
Calling for outcry and protest over the tax, Tommy Sheridan said: "The pensioners and ordinary workers of Scotland are hammered by this Tory tax while the well paid and wealthy pay a pittance,
"A nationwide rebellion is required.
"We need to replace the Council Tax with an income-based alternative so the well off pay more and the vast majority of Scots pay less.
"We will take to the streets in our thousands to scrap the unfair Council Tax."
Copyright 2004 MGN Ltd.
Definitely time for a change
Scottish Mirror editorial, 10/02/04
THE Council Tax is a bit like a nasty cold.
Nobody wants it - but nobody's quite sure how to get rid of it either.
So the Mirror welcomes Tommy Sheridan's campaign - launching today - to scrap the Council Tax.
Everybody knows you don't get something for nothing. And local services - like schools and street lighting - have to be paid for somehow.
But, under the Council Tax, pensioners and the low paid get hammered while the rich pay a pittance.
So hopefully the Scottish Parliament will see sense and get rid of it.
But, like everything else at the Scottish Parliament, there is a problem.
The SNP want to scrap the tax, so do the Greens and the independents like Margo MacDonald.
Even Labour's coalition chums in the Lib Dems want to get rid of it.
But the parties who want it to be scrapped can't agree on what to replace it with.
The Scottish Socialists want a Scottish Service Tax, based on ability to pay and making the rich pay more.
The SNP, Greens and Lib Dems all want different kinds of local income tax. And they are all falling out over which system is the best.
So we could end up stuck with the council tax even though most people want it to be ditched.
The Mirror today calls on those opposing the council tax to bury the hatchet and unite on one thing - scrapping it.
Backroom bickering on what to replace it with can come later.
For now - just get rid of it and give Scotland's pensioners and low paid a break. That's medicine worth taking.
In defence of the council tax
BBC News Online
Cosla says there is "no case" for abolishing the council tax
Tory leader faces tax calls
BBC News Online
A 72-year-old Tory party worker has written to leader David McLetchie urging him to support calls for the abolition of the council tax.
Nan Cameron, from Strathaven, penned the letter with anti-council tax campaigner Alastair Murdoch.
Socialists plan anti-tax campaign
BBC News Online
A campaign aiming to "overthrow" the council tax is to be launched by the Scottish Socialist Party.
Last year SSP leader Tommy Sheridan put forward a member's bill at Holyrood proposing to replace the system with an income-based alternative.
The party plans to hold a demonstration in Glasgow in April, and will also launch a petition and a website.
Mr Sheridan said: "We will take to the streets in our thousands to scrap the unfair council tax."
Council tax: the alternatives
BBC News Online
Opponents of the council tax have put forward a number of suggestions for new systems of taxation.
Scotland's local authorities are set to announce their bills for the coming year on Thursday.
It is expected that the average rise will be about 5%, ranging from less than 3% in Argyll and Clyde to 15% in Moray.
Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland's political editor, examines the political parties' proposals for alternative systems.
Councils prepare for tax rises
BBC News Online
It is that time of year again. The grace period of two months after new year is coming to an end.
Soon those envelopes with next year's council tax demands will drop on door steps across Scotland.
On Thursday, 32 councils will meet and decide how much extra you will have to pay.
