The Guardian view on Scotland’s unpaid tax dilemma

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/05/guardian-view-scotland-unpaid-tax-dilemma

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What happens when two virtuous principles of civic life collide? That’s the dilemma in post-referendum Scotland, where such a collision is an unexpected consequence of the independence vote.

Principle number one is that everyone should vote. One of the great achievements on 18 September was that so many people registered and then voted – just under 85% of those registered. The romantic claim that a “missing million” Scots joined the rolls so that they could vote on the nation’s future is wide of the mark; the true figure is that the electorate rose by around 333,000 between the Scottish parliamentary elections in 2011 and the referendum, of whom 110,000 were newly enfranchised 16- and 17-year-olds. Nevertheless the surge in democratic engagement was heartening.

Principle number two is that people should pay their taxes. Few things are as unfair to the majority, especially in times of public financial stringency, as the readiness of a minority to shirk their proper share. Tax avoidance and evasion strike at the heart of common civic purposes. Taxes, in the words of the American jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes, are “what we pay for civilised society”. Asked whether those who could and should have paid taxes should be chased for the money they owe, most of us would say a resounding yes.

Scotland’s dilemma is whether to chase down unpaid taxes of people who have newly joined the electoral register. Scotland’s 32 local authorities are owed some £425m in unpaid taxes. That is a substantial figure, and,until last week, according to the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, councils were under extremely strict instructions to collect every penny, on pain of financial penalties from the Holyrood government. Unsurprisingly, a majority have told the Guardian they intend to use the new register to find unpaid revenue, which may include unpaid council taxes, false declarations about property occupancy and other non-payments. These include some from the period when many Scots refused to pay the iconic poll tax, before it was abolished in 1993. Last week, Alex Salmond announced that he plans to ban local councils from pursuing poll tax debts.

This is good populist politics. But it is bad fiscal principle and bad for localism too. Scottish councils have accused Mr Salmond of undermining the drive to ensure taxes are paid. Scottish Tories accuse him of giving tax-dodgers a charter. Surely a more pragmatic balance needs to be struck. If people cannot afford to pay, they should not be pursued. If they can – as in Mr Salmond’s own case (he refused to pay the poll tax until it was abolished but then settled his arrears) – they should. The democratic principles, though, are not in conflict. People should use the right to vote. And people should pay their taxes, too.