GREEN MSPs scored a victory last night by having their own tax proposals included in the SNP government's public consultation over the local income tax (LIT).
The two MSPs tabled an amendment putting forward a tax which is based on the value of land rather than property as the fairest and most practical way of replacing the unpopular council tax.
The SNP was forced to back the amendment in return for th
e Greens' support in blocking Labour's bid to defeat LIT.
The Green amendment opening up consultation on replacing the council tax by other alternatives, including their own land-value tax, was carried by 65 votes to 61 after being backed by the SNP and Lib Dems against a Labour/Tory coalition.
Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: "We are obviously delighted that we have now managed to open up the consultation to include alternatives including our idea of a land-value tax which is used Denmark, South Africa, Jamaica, some Australian states and several cities and communities in the United States.
"The key words in our amendment were fairness and local accountability – we believe that will only leave our option as the way forward."
The Greens' amendment allows their idea of a land-value tax to be considered as an alternative proposal along with the Lib Dem idea of allowing councils to set a variable income tax, as the SNP try to avoid defeat over the controversial issue.
During a debate at Holyrood yesterday, Tory finance spokesman Derek Brownlee said the SNP plan had escaped its "day of reckoning" because the Green amendment gave it the chance to continue.
He added: "A defeat for the Labour motion tonight is not a win for the government. In fact, it might prove to be the reverse – it allows the local income tax plans to limp on, and in so doing to continue to drag down and damage the government."
Labour's local government spokesman Andy Kerr said: "This flagship SNP policy is falling apart at the seams.
"There was no response to Labour's attack on how damaging their plans will be for hard-working Scottish families. They were reminded time after time that a couple earning a joint income of just £33k would be worse off; young people still living at home will be hammered, as will tax-paying pensioners. They stand accused of being gutless and cowardly, and hid behind a pointless amendment by the Greens."
Earlier in the debate, Mr Kerr dubbed LIT the "Nat tax" and claimed it was less popular than the Tory's poll tax.
"The great contradiction at the heart of this is this is not actually a local income tax," he said. "There is nothing local about it. It would remove overnight one of the key principles of local government – its right to determine how much revenue it will raise locally."
But John Swinney, the finance secretary, argued the council tax was the most hated levy in the country, to which he said Labour was desperately clinging.
"Council tax is unfair and regressive," he added. "It hits people on low incomes, particularly pensioners, who can least afford to pay it. Our proposals will make most single pensioners, most pensioner couples, most couples with or without children, most one-parent families, most single people and most households with multiple taxpayers better off. Only the top-income decile will pay more under our proposals."
A LESSON FOR TAXING TIMESCONSERVATIVES yesterday attacked Alex Salmond over the government's plans for a local income tax, asking how he could justify forcing students to pay an extra 3p on their income tax above £5,500 of earnings.
During First Minister's Questions, Tory leader Annabel Goldie said: "Last year the First Minister spoke of the financial barriers facing students, many of whom have to work their way through their studies and many of whom pay income tax.
"So what excuse is he going to give students for landing them with a new financial barrier – the SNP's Nationalist tax on learning. How is that fair?"
Mr Salmond
said his government had helped all students by abolishing the graduate endowment fee.
The full article contains 693 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
