SNP emphatic local income tax plan will not be scrapped
THE Scottish Government was yesterday forced to deny reports it is on the verge of abandoning a flagship policy of replacing council tax with a local income tax (LIT).
Reports over the weekend suggested the SNP had decided to ditch the policy because the UK government had said it will not give Scotland 400 million council tax benefit if the change goes through.
Scottish Government insiders were quoted as saying they would not force through a policy that left Scotland short of 400 million.
However, John Swinney, the finance secretary, has insisted that whatever the UK government does, he will table the bill next year and he still hopes to have a centrally-set 3p local income tax in place, instead of the council tax, by 2011.
He also threatened to make the 400 million a general election issue.
The LIT policy has been opposed almost unanimously by a range of groups in Scotland.
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Friday 17 February 2012
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