Hansard

If we defeat the Government today, Parliament will take the first step towards bringing an end to the council tax. The Liberal Democrats will vote against the Government’s amendment, as it eviscerates Andy Wightman’s amendment, which we will support. We will oppose the Government on the draft order. We are opposing the Government because we have a long track record of supporting true local democracy, we favour the true reform of local taxation to a progressive land value tax and we respect the work of the commission on local government taxation.

If the Government wins, it will embed the council tax, which the SNP has told us it hates but about which it has done absolutely nothing for a decade. The minister will need to forgive me for being a bit sceptical of new promises now. This could be the only real chance that the Parliament gets to vote on council tax reform. If the Government wins today we will only get talks about talks about talks. If the Government wins today, it will undermine local democracy by imposing an unfair redistribution mechanism over the heads of councils. The more councils raise, the more they will be punished.

If the Government wins today, it will be a message to carry on as normal. If the Scottish Government was serious about investing in our schools to get Scottish education back up the international rankings, it would back our plans to use a tax over which it already has control. To raise £500 million every year—five times as much—to transform our education system, the Government should put a modest penny on income tax. That would be fair, progressive and moderate. It is bizarre that the Government might even vote against its own tax rise today, so if we defeat the Government, Parliament will be taking the first step to bringing an end to the council tax. I urge Parliament to take that step.