Letter: Tax evasion

WITH the Scottish elections only a few weeks away, it would be interesting to know exactly what the Labour Party is proposing for the council tax.

Now that it has thrown its hat in the ring against tuition fees, and with local authorities agitating for increases in council tax, I think we need to know just what Labour intends.

The council tax as it stands has to be one of the most unfair taxes so far dreamed up. It is the people who use the services, not the properties, so why do we have a property-based tax? Ease of collection from a captive audience seems to be the only "merit" it has. Supposedly based on two people sharing, when one dies there is a reduction of only 25 per cent. Half of two is one, not one and a half; even the arithmetic is faulty.

Council tax is only very loosely based on the ability to pay, reasoning that if someone lives in a big house they must have a big income, which is not the case in many instances. Even the vilified Poll Tax was slightly fairer because everyone using the services and able to pay was expected to do so. The problem was the Poll Tax was a level payment for all and not based on income.

In my view, an income tax would be the fairest way to collect revenues for local taxation. In the age of the computer and with a body to collect income tax (HMRC) already in place, it should not be difficult to achieve. Forget the estimated millions required to establish a scheme, that's a typical smokescreen set up by those who oppose the idea.

Come on then Iain Gray, let's hear the Labour side of things.

KR Murdoch

Marchbank Gardens

Balerno, Midlothian