Scrapping Council Tax - the fair way forward says Jo

1.45.02pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 20th Apr 2005

Jo Swinson is campaigning to scrap the unfair Council Tax

The Scottish Liberal Democrats today pledged to abolish the unfair Council Tax - and replace it with a Local Income Tax, based on ability to pay.

Speaking at a press conference in Edinburgh Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Menzies Campbell said: "Liberal Democrats believe that Council Tax is an unfair tax. Introduced by the Tories, it is now being defended by Labour. Liberal Democrats want to abolish Council Tax altogether and replace it with a fair tax based on the ability to pay - a Local Income Tax.

Jo Swinson added, "At the heart of our proposal is fairness. And this stands in stark contrast to the unfair nature of the Council Tax. The Council Tax penalises pensioners across Scotland. They pay a far higher proportion of their income in tax than the very rich. In fact the poorest twenty per cent of pensioners pay nearly six times more than the richest twenty per

cent of non-pensioners, as a proportion of their income. That is manifestly unfair."

"Liberal Democrats want to bring fairness to local taxation. We will campaign through the Independent Review to replace the Council Tax with a Local Income Tax - based on the ability to pay.

"Axe the Council Tax and replace it with a fairer Local Income Tax. That is how Liberal Democrats will bring about fairness on tax."