Meeting of the Parliament 18 February 2025
That is why the Scottish Greens advocate a land value tax as an effective way of taxing wealth that cannot be packed up and moved to another country.
The United Nations report from 2018 says:
“The experience of the United Kingdom, especially since 2010, underscores the conclusion that poverty is a political choice. Austerity could easily have spared the poor, if the political will had existed to do so.”
Step forward the Labour Government that was elected last summer, which, according to Anas Sarwar, was going to end austerity. “Read my lips,” he said. However, instead of setting out a vision for a different future and having the courage of its socialist roots, the Labour Government has shied away from making real change because it is scared to tap into the enormous wealth that our country has generated but that has been hoarded by a few super-rich. The Labour Government, instead of looking seriously at real redistribution of wealth, prefers to continue to allow the filthy rich to get filthy richer—and, indeed, seeks to accelerate that through its focus on removing regulations that protect the environment, communities and workers. It names that ambition “growth”.
Having backed itself into a corner between ending Tory austerity and fear of taxation, the Labour Government has made the poor decision to increase employer national insurance contributions in order to raise funds. I, along with other members of this Parliament, have had an inbox full of messages from organisations that deliver important, front-line services in communities but will have to close their doors as a result of the rise in contributions.