Letters: Make Robin Hood proud by firing arrows at banks

RBS has announced more than 900 million of bonuses to staff while, to pay for the national deficit caused by under-regulated bank trading, front-line services in our community are being cut, leaving vulnerable and underprivileged adults and children bearing the brunt of the banks' mistakes.

Government in London calls on us all to understand they have to make tough decisions. Where is the justice? We need a modern day Robin Hood approach to the problem.

There is one easy decision that could spare a lot of the 'tough ones'. A tax on the banks could raise 20 billion in the UK to help those hit by the financial crisis. For every cut I hear the government announce I keep asking: could a tax on the banks have paid for that?

The situation we find ourselves in started in the financial sector and UK-wide we spent 1.4 trillion bailing them out.

We are all paying for a party we aren't invited to.

Don't you think that MPs and leaders should start fighting for a tax on bank profits that would make Robin Hood proud?

Russell Boyle, Redbraes Place, Edinburgh

Foulkes' claims wide of the mark

I REFER to the quote from George Foulkes on Wednesday regarding the Edinburgh tram project, in which he states "it's a total muddle because the SNP group on the city council has been trying to undermine it".

This is arrant nonsense. This project did not need any assistance from SNP to get to where it is at.

The SNP has never tried to undermine the project, this is no more than a political slur of the kind we have been accustomed to from Mr Foulkes.

The SNP Local Government Manifesto (2007) stipulated our opposition to the Edinburgh tram project and we have been consistent throughout, having made four calls for it to be scrapped, but been outvoted.

This, however, has not diminished our determination to safeguard the "public purse" as much as we possibly can.

To suggest that our unsuccessful attempts to terminate the project has had the impact Mr Foulkes implies is fanciful, but given his well deserved reputation, is not surprising.

The SNP has never attempted to "undermine" this project. We have merely maintained our position - it's called democracy, Mr Foulkes.

Councillor Steve Cardownie, leader, SNP group, Edinburgh City Council

Tax system needs fresh perspective

I FOUND myself in the rare position of agreeing with Brian Monteith in yesterday's News. He is quite right to criticise the Tories' plan to give a council tax reduction to pensioners when, from all angles, public services are being slashed.

No-one likes paying tax. We do so because, deep down, we know that public services are necessary. But most of us recognise that simply cutting taxes today has a cost tomorrow.

That's why I am surprised that it has been left to the Scottish Greens to make the case for fair taxation to invest in public services.

A land value tax would raise much more than the council tax and also leave most Scottish households better off

Gavin Corbett, Briarbank Terrace, Edinburgh

Labour has no bottle on booze

PEOPLE will doubt what you say but believe what you do, and in the case of the Labour Party, how can anyone trust them on tackling the problem of cheap alcohol?

Their health spokesperson's remarks that Labour would now "seriously consider measures to increase the price of alcohol" flies in the face of their actions in the Scottish Parliament when they not only voted AGAINST minimum pricing, but didn't even suggest any amendments that came close to increasing the price.

Does it not just show that they cannot be trusted on addressing the issue and are not worthy of office?

Michael Matheson MSP, health committee