Meeting of the Parliament 03 November 2016
The Greens might think that they are on a bus, but I would argue that it is the Tories who are taking them for a ride. What the Greens are proposing is to remove progressive taxation as a fundamental principle to get the Conservatives on board only long enough for them to try to stop us raising the council tax for higher-value houses. Mr Wightman is wrong. It is the case that there is redistribution in local government, and it was not just under the Conservatives, and it is not just under the SNP; such a regime existed under the Labour-Liberal Executive for years as well. The principle remains the same. Every penny that is raised in council tax will stay with those councils.
The SSI is just about the multipliers. The Opposition parties cannot even agree on what they appear to be uniting to agree on. The Tories say that it is about no change, the Liberals and the Labour Party think that it is about some change or that it is about raising income tax rather than council tax, and the Greens think that it is about radical reform. Actually, the vote is about changing the multipliers, which is a reasonable, balanced approach that is in keeping with the mandate that the Scottish Government secured in the election at which we got, in an open and transparent way, the consent of the people to take forward our proposition, which also won the support of the Local Government and Regeneration Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
Our reforms are “more progressive”. Those are not my words but the words of the Resolution Foundation. They can be implemented as early as next April, so we can generate £100 million a year for our public services, for local authorities and for targeting on education—something that we have all said that we would agree on. Of course, 75 per cent of council tax payers pay no more as a consequence of our balanced reforms.
The Opposition told us for long enough that the council tax freeze was unsustainable. We have introduced a package of measures that will take forward sustainable increases to ensure that we generate more for public services in a progressive way.
We recognise our responsibility to taxpayers, to local authorities and, most importantly, to our young people. We will see that additional funding delivered. Most importantly, this party and this Government will not let petty party politics stand in the way of doing the right thing for Scotland’s children and for taxpayers across the country.