Scotland To Scrap Council Tax

[Mr C]

House size is a reasonable measure of wealth, not perfect but reasonable. It makes more sense to tax people on their wealth than it does on their income.

Absolute tosh of the highest order i'm afraid.

Wealth can be measured in different ways. People should not be penalised for investing the product of their lifetime of labour in assets which maintain value. Owning things should not be taken into consideration when debating who pays the most tax. Some people blow all there cash on crap, and some invest it in assets like houses, land etc etc things that maintain value. why should we punish the people who decide to spend there money wisely? and why should we give breaks to those who seek to piss it all up against a wall, or spend their wealth on roasting themselves in the south of spain every year with nothing to show for it.

Council tax should come from a percent of earnings and nothing else, it is the only fair way.

[Orsino]

I can't see how this Scottish Council Tax will change anything. The logical consequence is that hard-working young Scots will move to England leaving Scotland full of old people and work-shy benefit scroungers.

[Guest An Bearin Bui]

I can't see how this Scottish Council Tax will change anything. The logical consequence is that hard-working young Scots will move to England leaving Scotland full of old people and work-shy benefit scroungers.

That's my prediction - especially the under-30 age-group who've been priced out of home ownership. If they're renting a flat, waiting and saving to buy, they'll be screwed over completely by this taxation change as it favour homeowners over earners. Anyone with any sense would just leave to avoid the tax, especially as they're renters so they'll be able to move quickly. What about immigrants? Anyone coming here will just opt for England, Wales, NI instead so they don't have to pay 3% more tax, especially as immigrants are more likely to live in flatshares.

Scotland has an ageing population, more so than any other part of the UK as far as I know, so how on earth the SNP think that this excessive tax on the young will not make Scotland worse off is beyond me. Pandering to the elderly is a great way to buy an election but it's a shit way to run a country, unless you're aiming to become the retirement home of Europe.

[rogerthelodger]

I can't see how this Scottish Council Tax will change anything. The logical consequence is that hard-working young Scots will move to England leaving Scotland full of old people and work-shy benefit scroungers.

i think you'll find that people on the buroo don't pay council tax,well they have to claim a rebate.labour love this,as it forces people to beg for a rebate of a "tax" that bares no relation to their income.

the local income tax just comes off through PAYE,so less pen pushers & snoopers at the council.

it might make some footballers at Celtic put in a transfer request,but i doubt someone on £15k PA will uproot ,in fact most will be better off.

try the LIT calculator: http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/AF3int/an/defaul...ame=EVYys4iyhHj

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

The problem is that, essentially, the SNP is selling it on the basis that most people will be better off.

The simply isn't possible... someone still have to pay.

If 80% of people were better off then it means the other 20% have seen massive tax increases.

[Guest An Bearin Bui]

i think you'll find that people on the buroo don't pay council tax,well they have to claim a rebate.labour love this,as it forces people to beg for a rebate of a "tax" that bares no relation to their income.

the local income tax just comes off through PAYE,so less pen pushers & snoopers at the council.

it might make some footballers at Celtic put in a transfer request,but i doubt someone on £15k PA will uproot ,in fact most will be better off.

try the LIT calculator: http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/AF3int/an/defaul...ame=EVYys4iyhHj

Nope, sorry, using the LIT calculator I'm still paying more tax, about 25% more. It's slightly less than the 40% I had expected from rough calculations but it's still more money!

Someone on £15k p.a. will be significantly worse off because a lot of people on small salaries like that either live with their families or can only afford to rent and usually in flatshares. So where they would once have paid a small share (e.g. 1/4) of a council tax bill either in their parents or a rented shared house, they'll now be taxed individually on their already small income. This tax is just not a fair tax for working people, especially working young people, being the age-group most likely to be in house-shares or with family. Great way to turn Scotland into an old folks' home at a time when the country already has problems of an ageing and declining population.

[RufflesTheGuineaPig]

Local income tax, is, put simply a tax that cripples anyone living in an appropriately sized property.

The more appropriate the size of the property you are living in, the worse off you are.

4 young people sharing a house each pay more than an old person in a 4 bedroomed house on their own.

It simply peanalises people for trying to be a productive part of society.

[rogerthelodger]

The problem is that, essentially, the SNP is selling it on the basis that most people will be better off.

The simply isn't possible... someone still have to pay.

If 80% of people were better off then it means the other 20% have seen massive tax increases.

surely 80% is a majority? so 20% pay more !

Edited September 6, 2008 by rogerthelodger

[stormymonday_2011]

Let's not forget that council tax is an incredibly inefficient way to collect tax revenue. Every council has their own council tax department (usually staffed by idiots) even those that outsource the bulk of the work still have to pay their own council tax department. And those outsourcing contracts are a disgrace. It royally pisses me off that my tax money goes to the shareholders of inefficient, unelected and self serving companies like Capita and Liberata. A centrally collected tax would get rid of all that bureaucracy.

As an ex employee of the Inland Revenue I beg to differ.

The government's statistics show that Council Tax is cheap to levy, administer and collect.

It has a high yield to assessment and is almost impossible to avoid.

Edited September 6, 2008 by up2nogood

[Bjørn]

I pay £3,015pa on my rented home. I'm quasi-semi-retired, with a flexible income which depends on how much consultancy work I can be bothered to take on and is usually tripled to quintupled by gains from my CFD equity margin trading dabbles. At any time I wish I can simply start living on my well-funded pensions.

Wee Eck would be a bloody fool to take me off Council Tax and put me on a 3% Income Tax scheme. I would simply do the obvious and I'd pay next to nothing in tax to the coffers of the Leith Numptorium.

Meanwhile it will have cost him an absolute mint to set up a parallel HMCR system to administer his pathetic wee 3% ruse.

If he can't squeeze a good lump of tax (ie more than I already pay in Council Tax) out of someone like myself who lives in a Band H house and earns a 6fig income then he's a chump.

It seems to me that the only way his scheme can be made to work is to rapidly start jacking up his tax rate to something like the lamented 10p in the Poond.

As has already been noted elsewhere, if he loses the Barnett gravy train, then he's stuffed.

[rogerthelodger]

I pay £3,015pa on my rented home. I'm quasi-semi-retired, with a flexible income which depends on how much consultancy work I can be bothered to take on and is usually tripled to quintupled by gains from my CFD equity margin trading dabbles. At any time I wish I can simply start living on my well-funded pensions.

Wee Eck would be a bloody fool to take me off Council Tax and put me on a 3% Income Tax scheme. I would simply do the obvious and I'd pay next to nothing in tax to the coffers of the Leith Numptorium.

Meanwhile it will have cost him an absolute mint to set up a parallel HMCR system to administer his pathetic wee 3% ruse.

If he can't squeeze a good lump of tax (ie more than I already pay in Council Tax) out of someone like myself who lives in a Band H house and earns a 6fig income then he's a chump.

It seems to me that the only way his scheme can be made to work is to rapidly start jacking up his tax rate to something like the lamented 10p in the Poond.

As has already been noted elsewhere, if he loses the Barnett gravy train, then he's stuffed.

i'm sure the country will survive without your wee £3k a year,but if it means an old granny on the state pension + a small works pension doesn't have to find £1k a year it'll be worth it.

anyway an independent Scotland could close all the income tax loopholes,it's just that maggie broon dosen't want to.