Several political parties have advocated a local income tax in Scotland as an alternative to the Council Tax, as part of funding for

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. Various proposals were promoted during the 2007 general election campaign.

Proposals

In 2004, the Scottish Socialist Party launched a "Scrap the Council Tax" campaign, boosted by a poll suggesting 77% of Scots supported the abolition of the tax. A bill proposing a progressive system of taxation based on a household's income was presented in 2005, but was defeated with 12 MSPs in favour, 94 against, and 6 abstaining. Although the SNP and the Liberal Democrats supported the principle of income-based taxation, they disagreed with the SSP's specific proposals, which would have exempted anyone with an annual income of less than £10,000 and reduced liabilities for anyone with an annual income of less than £30,000, while targeting revenue generation to household incomes in excess of £90,000. Different proposals to abolish council tax formed part of the

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

s of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

and the Liberal Democrats during the

Scottish Parliament general election The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyro ...

of May 2007. The SNP version involves the centralised distribution of funds raised from the new tax throughout the Scottish local authorities whereas the Liberal Democrats' proposal devolves the distribution to individual authorities. The SSP said under its proposals, unlike other local income tax schemes, the set-up costs and problems of fiscal flight would be insignificant, as the tax rates are not set locally. After the 2007 election, the SNP-run Scottish Government planned to bring forward

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolled bill, enrolling, enactment of a bill, enacting, or promulgation, promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous Government, governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law i ...

to replace Council Tax with a local income tax as part of the funding for Scottish local authorities. A major setback took place when the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

said it would withhold almost £400 million in Council Tax Benefit if the Scottish government implemented the proposals. Controversially, the UK government said it would, however, release the funds for a tax scheme designed by Scottish Labour.

References

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

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Proposals

See also

References