Scrap the Council Tax: find out how much you’d save under the SSP’s alternative

by Natalie Reid, SSP national co-spokesperson

Last month, the Scottish Government announced an increase in Council Tax bands E-H. The SNP claim this is a bid to make taxation fairer, as the lower bands will remain at their current rates.

SNP Public Finance Minister, Tom Arthur has claimed “nobody has to pay a Council Tax bill they cannot be expected to afford, regardless of what band they are in”.

This is a bold claim, considering the Council Tax is not based to your ability to pay, and we are in the throes of the worst cost of living crisis in decades, with food prices soaring, energy bills in constant flux, sky high rent and mortgage rates, and stagnant wages.

The Council Tax is a postcode lottery, linked to property values that were established in 1991. That means areas that have seen a sharp increase in property value since then — such as Westminster- are often paying less Council Tax than a modest family home in some parts of Scotland.

With the announcement, the SNP did manage to pull off quit an impressive feat — both the left and the right wing are united — in their hatred of the proposal! The elite don’t like the fact that the bills for their stately homes, second homes, holiday homes, and various other homes, will increase by up to 22 per cent, and the socialist left can’t believe that SNP are insisting on clinging to a tax system that is messy, ineffective, and unfit for purpose.

Cuts to income & services
Not only does the Council Tax put pressure on already struggling households, but it’s also completely ineffective in raising funds for local services. Council coffers have been stripped bare after 13 years of austerity, enforced by both Holyrood and Westminster.

Communities have faced relentless cuts to much needed services; with closures of libraries, childcare facilities, and after school programmes to name but a few. Many councils have tried to spin the cuts as an opportunity for communities to “vote to fund your favourite service”. They can dress it up however they like, but by asking communities to vote for certain projects, you’re asking them to cut others by default.

Hollow promises
The SNP first pledged to scrap the Council Tax in their 2007 manifesto — 16 years ago! I remember the billboards — Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond, standing side by side with the message writ large for all to see — “We’ll scrap the unfair Council Tax”. But like many SNP promises, it was hollow.

It was a popular policy, and the SNP used it to get votes. The SNP’s Council Tax freeze during the pandemic merely kicked the can down the road — creating more debt for local services and offering very little respite to bill payers.

The latest increases may be aimed at more expensive properties, but the fact is, “tinkering around the edges” (as STUC put it) with a broken system will only take you so far. The Council Tax must be scrapped. It is long overdue. The SNP knew it was unfair 16 years ago — their billboard said so — and they know it now.

Scottish Service Tax
As household incomes take a battering, many of us are relying on public service now more than ever. Citizen’s advice, social services, after school clubs, locally run substance abuse support groups, and a myriad of other services, are supposed to provide a social safety net.

This is only possible if they are fully funded, fully staffed, and fit for purpose. And this requires funding and investment that the Council Tax simply cannot provide. The Scottish Socialist Party would scrap the Council Tax completely and replace it with an income-based alternative, the Scottish Service Tax.

This Service Tax is based on your ability to pay, as it is linked to your income. To put it simply, the more you earn, the more you pay. Not only would this Service Tax put the burden on the broadest shoulders, and provide some much-needed relief to struggling households, it would also generate significantly more money than the Council Tax. Billions more. Billions more that can be used to support our vital public services.

Join the Scottish Socialist Party in our fight to scrap the Council Tax for a fairer, income-based alternative that gives our communities and local services the funding they so desperately need.

· See how much you would pay under the Scottish Service Tax at:
scottishsocialistparty.org/service-tax-calculator/