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Monday, 29 January 2007 |
 Labour have announced a freeze in Council Tax just before the Parliament and Council elections. But expenditure plans are not being released to opposition councillors until at least 2 February. Presumably these plans reveal cuts in services as happened last year. So we have been given the “good news” but not the bad news. In the past expenditure options were put out for public consultation weeks before the budget was set but this year Labour are being exceptionally secretive.
The SNP’s main aim is to see council services protected. Even when the budget is set on 8 February it is possible much of the detail will not be known. Last year vague statements about savings of 2% were made. It was only well after the budget that it was learned that school classroom supplies were being cut by some 20%.
SNP Group Leader John Mason said, “Glasgow’s council tax is far too high so any freeze or cut is theoretically very welcome. However, this year Glasgow is getting less increase in grant than the Scottish average; we are losing £7.7 million because of this. So there is a funding gap and we assume this will be met by cutting services. Labour are being very secretive about any cuts and are releasing their expenditure plans later than usual. It may well only be after the budget is set that we find out where the cuts are really falling.
However, the main point in all this is that Council Tax is an unfair tax. High and low earners pay the same which cannot be right. Even freezing council tax for 10 years would not make it fairer. It has to be replaced by local income tax which would take account of ability to pay. |
