Law expert warns MSPs of ‘poll tax’ scenario
A law expert has warned MSPs their plan for a local income tax could lead to ‘poll tax’ kind of unrest
MSPs on a Holyrood local government committee heard from Professor Alan Page
of University of Dundee
that, to avoid public concern, it was inevitable the courts would have to
examine the
Scottish
Government’s plan to replace the council tax with a 3p local tax in 2011-12.
‘This question of legality will cast a long shadow over the bill until it’s
effectively settled one way or another,’ he told MSPs.
‘The nightmare scenario would be if you have a situation like the poll tax
where people were refusing to pay because they say the Scottish Parliament does
not have the power to do this. So, I think we need to get that question out of
the way.’
Holyrood ministers are currently consulting on the local tax proposal. They
are asking whether councils could be given the power to set or vary rates or
whether there should be a single, national 3p rate, according to
BBC
News.
Further reading:
Scottish income tax plan hits another hurdle