Political Comparison Made Easy

REFORMING TAX TO KEEP BILLS LOW

We will not use the existing or future Scottish Parliament tax powers to increase income tax in the next Parliament or impose new taxes, such as the discredited local income tax.

Scottish Conservatives first called for a Council Tax Freeze in 2003. Under Labour and the Liberal Democrats, Council Tax increased by 62 per cent in Scotland. In the face of opposition from the same two parties, Scottish Conservatives have ensured that the Council Tax has remained frozen since 2007, and we will now go further. We will freeze the Council Tax until at least 2013. However, the Council Tax Freeze can't continue indefinitely. Looking ahead to when it eventually has to come to an end, we will change the law to give local residents the power to stop bills rising faster than inflation.

Eligibility for Council Tax Benefit is higher for pensioners than for the population as a whole, but take-up of the benefit is not universal. To help tackle this, and to ensure that those who have contributed to society over the years get a fair deal on tax, we will legislate to introduce a Pensioner Discount from 2013-14, initially set at £200 per household. The discount will be available to all households where all adults have reached the State Pension Age. Students living in the household, and others who are ignored for Council Tax purposes, will not affect eligibility.

We will not hold a council tax revaluation, nor will we introduce new bands or change the ratios between the bands. We will make no changes to the structure of Council Tax which would increase bills.

We will remove the power to charge drivers for using existing roads from the statute books.

Please see page 22 of the Scottish Conservative Party manifesto for this policy.

Please also see the Scottish Conservative Party spending plans and the Scottish Conservative Party summary budget which relate to their manifesto.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 11/04/11 (2:36pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Making local funding fairer; no pensioner who lives on £10,000 income to pay any council tax

Fairer Local Funding Action Plan

Most people agree with us that council tax is unfair. The new powers in the Scotland Bill will make it easier to reform it. Our preferred alternative is local income tax. We will learn from the introduction of the Scottish income tax power in 2015 to allow us to be in a position to take forward reform from 2016.

For the forthcoming Parliament we will make a single, simple change. We will make sure that no pensioner on less than £10,000 has to pay any council tax. At the moment, even people on modest pensions end up paying hundreds of pounds in unfair council tax. Under our plans they will pay nothing. We will do this using the savings from our proposals to restrict bonuses in the public sector.

This will benefit around 20,000 pensioners in Scotland who need most help, many of them women who have faced huge disadvantages in their pensions due to the way the national insurance system has worked over the last fifty years.

We will provide sufficient central resources to support a council tax freeze for the next two years. We will enter discussions with local authority partners to consider options for the remainder of the parliamentary term.

We have a long commitment to federalism across the UK. The Scotland Bill is part of this. It establishes shared approach and accountability on taxation. We will take the principle further by improving the relationship and accountability between central and local government.

The Action Plan will:
• Reject centralisation and centrally-driven reorganisations.
• Give local authorities a power of general competence.
• Publish a white paper on localism to outline the fuller steps that can be taken to disperse power away from the centre and towards local communities once the Scotland Bill powers are in force.
• Promote greater local democratic oversight of public spending in an area to help bring efficiencies in the delivery of public services by eliminating duplication and promoting joint working.
• Support and assist those local authorities who want to propose a regional option to public services, but we will not impose a centrally-driven reorganisation of local government.
• Recognise that the complex needs that are expected to be met by all authorities across Scotland include demands that cannot be accurately plugged into a formula, however complex. We will review the funding formula for local government to make it simpler, more transparent and fairer to all authorities.
• Introduce progressively a new rule to ensure that no authority receives less than 90 per cent of the average revenue support grant per head. The funding change will be introduced as cash increases for local government to ensure that no other authority will lose any cash as a result of the change.
• Help local authorities make greater use of alternative funding innovations such as Tax Incremental Finance and the Local Asset Backed Vehicle model in order to leverage investment for development and regeneration.
• Consult on plans to allow local authorities to charge utility services an hourly rate for highway lane closures that overrun to encourage greater efficiency.

We will carry out a comprehensive review of local business taxation to make it fairer and improve business sustainability.

We will:
• Make transitional relief statutory for businesses at the 2015 revaluation, ending the scandal of 200 per cent increases under the current government.
• Give greater parliamentary scrutiny to business rate assessors, their methodology in calculating rateable values and their handling of appeals.
• Review the impact of taxation on empty properties.
• Allow a proportion of additional revenues generated from economic growth to be retained by local authorities for reinvestment in their areas.
• Explore the potential to introduce a business rates holiday for tourism businesses over the winter months.
• Develop the small business bonus scheme with a view to extending it to cover small businesses with a high rateable value, such as hotels.

Please see pages 76-77 of the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 12/04/11 (1:19am) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Our Vision for Stronger Communities

Strong and vibrant communities are at the very heart of a more successful Scotland. The SNP's vision is of city neighbourhoods, towns and villages where people are empowered to make their life better. And where government is doing its bit to make life easier, safer and our communities more pleasant places to live, work and bring up a family.

We want to see a fairer deal for people across Scotland. That's why, working with local government, we will freeze the Council Tax throughout the next Parliament. Over the period of the next Parliament we will consult with others to produce a fairer system based on ability to pay to replace the Council Tax. We will put this to the people at the next election, by which time Scotland will have more powers over income tax.

Scotland faces many challenges; nevertheless, over these past four years progress has been made. There is of course much more to do. The SNP in government will bring together activity on the economy, the third sector, transport, community safety, housing, the environment and regeneration. This will deliver a step change in support for you and your local area.

Please see page 26 of the Scottish National Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 16/04/11 (5:24pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

Impact of a Land Value Tax

The Scottish Green Party's plans to replace Council Tax and Business Rates with a Land Value Tax has a key role to play in creating a sustainable economy. At present development is characterised by a cycle of boom and bust as property speculators play the market to maximise profits. A tax on land values would reduce the speculative holding of land. The owners of disused land and properties would face a levy giving incentives to the productive economic use of land, where local communities require it and where it's consistent with planning rules.

A Land Value Tax would help to reduce the cost of housing and business premises, and would also recoup a share of land value increases which arise from public investment. Land Value Tax would be fairer, more environmentally friendly, and would benefit the economy. Many small businesses in particular would benefit.

Please see page 8 of the Scottish Green Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy stated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 02/05/11 (11:52pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto

CTP has extracted two sections on this policy from the party's manifesto. See page details below.

Taxation

We want Scotland to be a competitive location in which to do business. To create an environment in which Scottish businesses can prosper, we will maintain parity with the English non-domestic poundage rate. We will not increase the income tax rate above that of the rest of the UK in the course of the next parliament.

We will seek to improve the current system of non-domestic rates and will review the reliefs that are available. We will also review the frequency of non-domestic property revaluations, pledging that every revaluation will be accompanied by a transitional relief scheme.

******

Scottish Labour will freeze the council tax for the next two years, ensuring that the freeze is sustainably funded. But whilst we deliver this support, we know that local authorities cannot afford for a single penny to be wasted. Whilst some local authorities have been on a forward footing on shared services - from sharing backroom functions to delivering joint frontline services - the agenda has often lacked momentum and drive at the centre. We believe that the Scottish Government has a key role to play in fostering a culture in which joint working thrives. Scottish Labour will introduce the reforms required to deliver the intended benefits of shared services, including strengthening the procurement guidance to facilitate agreements between public service organisations.

Please see page 17 and page 68 of the Scottish Labour Party manifesto for this policy.

The party had no previous policy section designated on its website for this topic for comparison.

Retrieved on 12/04/11 (2:36pm) from: 2011 Party Manifesto