Pensioners' anger at Council Tax hike

Glenrothes Scottish Socialist Party Press Release Wednesday 12 March 2003
Pensioners, including a number of retired miners have expressed their anger at Fife Council's inflation-busting hike in rent and Council Tax rates. At a meeting, jointly organised by miners welfare groups and elderly forums from Fife, the pensioners outlined their objections to the 5.15% rise in rents and the 4.9% increase in Council Tax.

Also at the meeting in the CISWO, Glenrothes was the Scottish Socialist Party's prospective candidate for Central Fife, Morag Balfour:

"I am regularly appalled by the stories I hear from people I speak to, and today was no exception. Many lose out on rebates because they receive a few pounds a week more than the threshold for benefits."

"The Council Tax has risen so much since its introduction that it is almost as unfair as the poll tax was. It must be replaced by a tax that does not force the low waged and pensioners into poverty."

Ms Balfour outlined the Scottish Socialist Party's proposals to abolish the Council Tax and replace it with a new Scottish Service Tax that she claimed would lift the burden of paying for local services off the shoulders of the poor and place more responsibility on the wealthy. The SSP would also scrap water charges altogether.

"Under our proposals anyone earning less than £10,000 a year would be exempt. Someone earning £20,000 would pay only £450 per year. The highest earners in our society would pay much more. MSPs on £48,000, for example, would pay £3,150 per year for local services."

Ms Balfour will attend a demonstration by the pensioners outside Fife House on 27th March at 11am. She has also agreed to attend a hustings organised by the Glenrothes Elderly Forum on 3rd April at 2pm in the CISWO, Glenrothes.

Note to editors:
(1) The Scottish Service Tax was researched and costed by Professor Mike Danson and Geoff Whittam in the Economics & Enterprise Department of the University of Paisley.
Based on figures from 1999-2000, there would be an overall surplus of £280 million as a direct result of replacing the Council Tax with a Scottish Service Tax. This figure would include £276 million savings in Council Tax Benefits, which the Benefits Agency would no longer require to pay.
However, even if Westminster decided to retain that money, Scotland would still be entitled to receive 8 per cent or £22 million under the Barnett formula bringing a net gain to the Scottish budget of £26 million.
Moreover, because the Service Tax would be more efficiently collected at source by Inland Revenue, there would be further estimated savings of up to £133 million a year, providing a potential net surplus of around £160 million.

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