Letters: Claim that taxpayers want to pay more is utter rubbish

IT was reported in Monday's Evening News that according to council surveys 70 per cent of council tax payers are in favour of an increase of perhaps three per cent.

This claim has got to be utter rubbish, as most people are fed up with the previous system of inflationary percentage increases year after year. That is one of the reasons the last Scottish administration were voted out.

This tax is very unfair, because it does not take into account the ability to pay. I might add that, in order for a lot of people to have the money to be able to pay their council tax, they would have already paid income tax on their pension. There has to be a fairer system.

Alan Chambers, The Murrays, Edinburgh

Present system of taxation is unfair

THE thorny subject of the council tax appears to be lost, with the present government trying to sort out the financial mess left by New Labour.

There has never been a revaluation done to the council tax since introduced.

If this was done, it would give the councils the much needed money to provide the services that they produce.

But surely it is now time to change the system to an income tax one.

This would ease the collection and catch the non-payers and make the system fairer for all. Pensioners paying double the tax from their pension that families of four wage earners do is absurd.

The present system is flawed and unfair.

R Ritchie, Livingston

Growing concern at Garden prices

I MUST reply concerning the comments recently raised about the food outside and inside the West Gate of the Royal Botanic Garden (News, September 30).

My wife and I visited the Garden last week and did not notice any food vans outside the West Gate, possibly as it was mid afternoon.

The Garden as always was superb and well kept, even at this time of year.

We thoroughly enjoyed the ambience of the Hope Centre display areas and shop but after sampling the Garden's afternoon teas we were disappointed in the amount that we were given and its cost.

If the Garden continues with its prices then Professor Blackmore's worries about the close proximity of food vans to the attraction may not be that it detracts from the visitor experience of the gardens, but the effect it may have on the restaurant.

Alan Ross, Craigleith Hill Gardens, Edinburgh

First-class role for third sector

IT is encouraging that Annabel Goldie is calling for an increased role for voluntary organisations in the delivery of public services (News, October 4).

With around 137,000 paid employees, the third sector is extremely well placed to offer services and opportunities to meet the needs of those most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our communities.

If they are to take on a greater role in public service delivery, at a time when more is expected for less, then it is vital that staff are equipped with the right skills. Effective leadership and governance will be crucial.

The new Third Sector Skills Partnership has been set up to address skills shortages and to lead the development of a more cohesive approach to skills development within the sector.

A well qualified and skilled workforce, both paid and voluntary, will ensure that the Scottish Government's vision of an enterprising third sector is realised.

Bernadette Monaghan, Third Sector Skills Partnership

Give us books instead of bombs

AS children are very much the future it seems crass that successive governments would rather spend billions on something as potentially destructive, unjustified and unwanted as the nuclear deterrent.

In an ideal world schools not bombs would be most beneficial, but in the troubled times that we live, common sense, it would seem, counts for little.

Angus McGregor, Albion Road, Edinburgh