Hansard

We should recap on where we are with the bill. We are here today because before the referendum we saw a massive increase in people registering to vote—something that should be celebrated. Sadly, a Conservative council leader then said that that registration would be used to go after poll tax debt from some 20 years ago. Alex Salmond’s response to that was that he would legislate, and here we are.

Labour will support the bill and we will work with the Government to move it through the Parliament without delay. Having said that, it is worth making the point that many local authorities have already taken the view that what remains of the debt is not realistically collectable. Indeed, as the Scottish Parliament information centre briefing points out, recovery of much of the debt is now prevented by both practical considerations and the law of prescription. Perth and Kinross Council made the point in its submission to the Finance Committee, which said:

“We believe that further attempts to collect Community Charge debt would be expensive and may come at a cost to Council Tax collection”.

I note that the bill’s policy memorandum says:

“The policy will contribute to the Scottish Government‘s National Outcomes of tackling inequalities in Scottish society, and promoting a strong, fair and inclusive national identity.”

I am sure that most members will remember the time of the poll tax: how unfair the tax was and the masses of people in households the length and breadth of Scotland who simply could not afford to pay. A pamphlet at the time said:

“Under the Poll Tax a two-adult working class family in Edinburgh pays on average £500 more per year. However, Malcolm Rifkind, Secretary of State for Scotland, pays only £400 per year for his castle-like villa in an Edinburgh suburb”.

It was an unfair and divisive tax, and hundreds of thousands of people across Scotland simply could not afford to pay and ended up in masses of debt. Wages were arrested and unforgivable warrant sales took place. Those warrant sales were rightly outlawed by Parliament through a bill that was introduced by comrade Tommy Sheridan.

It is interesting that Perth and Kinross Council’s submission says that many of those with historical debt also have council tax debt, which indicates that people on the lowest incomes have been stuck in that position over generations. The Government’s view on tackling inequalities might stand up, but we need a more coherent strategy in Scotland to break the cycles of deprivation that seem to run through generations of the same families in the same communities. That is why I say, in supporting the bill, that we should not be waging war on people who cannot afford to pay; we should be waging war on poverty.

The point should not be lost that councils in Scotland have been robust in pursuing historical poll tax debt from those who could pay. The decision not to continue to collect poll tax debt, which many councils have made, was not made lightly, given the major financial pressures that councils are under.

As I said in my introduction, most of the debt is at the point of being uncollectable—it is councils that are saying that. Nevertheless, that will leave some people who paid the poll tax feeling aggrieved, which is a point that individuals and councils made in their evidence to the Finance Committee. East Ayrshire Council made the point when it said:

“It is a difficult argument to have with an individual who feels aggrieved that they have paid (and in some cases placed themselves in considerable financial hardship to do so), when others are now being ‘excused’ of their obligations.”

It is important to recognise that many people who objected in principle to the poll tax and many people who struggled to pay the poll tax did pay. To all those people, we should say thank you, as they kept council services running through what was a very difficult financial period for local government.

The poll tax was abolished in 1993 and was hastily replaced by the council tax, which, as we know, has not served the purpose that it was meant for. I suggest that, if we want good public services and if we are to tackle the unacceptable levels of poverty and inequality in Scotland’s communities, we must have strong local government and good public services. We therefore need a system of taxation to pay for those services.

The Scottish National Party Government promised a new system of taxation. To date, it has failed. The consequences of that failure are now being felt across every community in Scotland, with cuts taking place in vital public services.

We will support the bill—in truth, the measures are happening anyway—but our message today must be that we need to fix local government finance and put it on a proper, sound footing once and for all.