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'Replace council tax' says report | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
Council tax should be replaced with an annual charge based on property value, according to a long-awaited report into local taxation in Scotland. | |
The "A Fairer Way" report by the independent local government finance review committee said the tax should be based on about 1% of a home's value | |
The study was headed by former Bank of Scotland chief Sir Peter Burt. | |
The formula was swiftly rejected by First Minister Jack McConnell and the main parties. | |
The charge would equate to an annual 1% tax across Scotland if councils wanted to raise the same amount as the council tax. | |
However, the tax rate would vary between local authorities. | |
Better off | |
Even before the report was published, sources close to Mr McConnell said: "There is no way that Labour ministers will support a 1% homes tax." | |
Launching the study in Edinburgh, Sir Peter denied the findings were already dead in the water. | |
Under the committee's proposal, he argued, 45% of the population would be better off and 20% would be no worse off. | |
Let's see what the first minister has to say once there has been mature reflection Sir Peter Burt | |
Sir Peter said: "I find it very hard to believe that once people have had a chance to reflect on it, they will not see the merits of what we are proposing." | |
He added: "Let's see what the first minister has to say once there has been mature reflection." | |
The proposals would result in an annual bill of about £1,300 or more for the average Scottish house, which now costs more than £130,000. | |
The report concluded that the council tax system is beyond repair and that a local income tax - which it calculates would be about 6.5% - is not the answer. | |
The committee took two years to reach its findings, at a cost to the Scottish Executive of £270,000. | |
'Farcical situation' | |
Labour ministers still favour a form of property tax but not along these lines and the party has long advocated reforms which would see additional bands added to the present council tax. | Labour ministers still favour a form of property tax but not along these lines and the party has long advocated reforms which would see additional bands added to the present council tax. |
The Scottish National Party said the review had turned out to be an "expensive waste of money" | |
Finance spokesman John Swinney said: "We now have the farcical situation where the first minister has established a two-year commission that has wasted taxpayers' money and reached a conclusion which the first minister has been forced to rubbish before it has even been published." | |
Mark Ballard MSP, Green finance spokesman, said: "The recommended system would be an improvement on the current one." | |