Jump to content

 

 

Recommended Posts

Wee Eck trying to keep his new recruits, maybe? ...

 

 

 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/518145/Salmond-slammed-for-tax-dodger-s-charter

 

Salmond slammed for ‘tax dodger’s charter’ over chasing votes

 

ALEX Salmond was last night on a collision course with cash-strapped councils over plans to ban them from chasing poll tax cheats.

 

 

 

By: Paul Gilbride

Published: Fri, October 3, 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New laws will stop officials using the voting records of millions of Scots from the independence referendum to recover debts.

 

His announcement comes after councils began combing through the recently updated electoral roll looking for people in arrears.

 

Opposition MSPs branded the First Minister’s proposals “a tax dodger’s charter” as it was revealed a staggering £425million is still owed.

 

And local government body Cosla said the plans were “one of the oddest decisions ever” to come from the Scottish Government and hit out at the lack of consultation.

 

The controversial Community Charge was introduced north of the Border by Margaret Thatcher in 1989 – a year before England.

 

It was scrapped and replaced by the council tax in 1993 following a mass civil disobedience campaign.

 

Mr Salmond yesterday told MSPs it was misguided for town halls to use current records to chase debts from decades ago. He said: “After 25 years it is about time that the poll tax was finally dead and buried.”

 

Last month’s vote on Scotland’s future saw voter registrations soar to more than 4.2 million. Council chiefs believe some were returning to the electoral roll for the first time in a quarter of a century after dropping off to avoid paying poll tax.

 

Although councils cannot pursue debts that are more than 20 years old, the period is extended by a further two decades if efforts have been made to chase up the payments.

Mr Salmond said the total collected in 2013 from poll tax debt in Scotland was £396,000.

 

He added: “It is, of course, within the law for councils to use current information to assess council tax liability and, given the council tax reduction scheme protects 500,000 of our poorest citizens, the tax is being applied in a proper and fair way.

 

"However, the relevance of information from the current electoral register to the position of debts from 25 years ago is difficult to fathom, except through some misguided political intention.

 

“It is the Government’s intention to bring forward legislation to ensure that councils can take forward no further action to recover ancient poll tax debts.”

 

 

 

This is a move geared towards winning a few extra votes, and is nothing but a tax dodger’s charter

 

Tory welfare reform spokesman Alex Johnstone

 

 

Aberdeenshire Council, which covers Mr Salmond’s constituency, is among the authorities which is using the records to go after outstanding tax.

 

Tory welfare reform spokesman Alex Johnstone said many Scots paid the tax in good faith, subsidising those who could afford to pay but chose not to.

 

He said: “Are those hard-working people going to be reimbursed too under this initiative? If this is the Scottish Government’s approach on tax collection, why should anyone bother paying any tax at all? This is a move geared towards winning a few extra votes, and is nothing but a tax dodger’s charter.”

 

Over the four years of the tax’s existence, councils billed Scots households for £3.678billion and it was previously estimated £325million was still to be collected.

 

Cosla president David O’Neill said the arrears now stood at £425million. He said authorities had been under “a very strict obligation to collect every penny of outstanding debt owed”.

 

“Indeed, we’ve been told in the past that until we did this, we should not be asking for any additional money from government.

 

“It seems very odd that now we have an improved tool at our disposal in the form of an expanded electoral register that may help us maximise collection rates, it is the self-same Government that tells us they are going to legislate immediately to prevent us from using it.”

Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't see the issue. Most people who didn't pay never will.

 

My own father in law 'disappeared' until he retired and was then exempted from paying it back anyway.

 

The state should concentrate on improving lives, not destroying them for a 20 year old debt.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't see the issue. Most people who didn't pay never will.

 

My own father in law 'disappeared' until he retired and was then exempted from paying it back anyway.

 

The state should concentrate on improving lives, not destroying them for a 20 year old debt.

 

How in the name of the wee man does collecting monies which are due not improve lives? Is a debt that goes back twenty years any different to a debt which goes back twenty months or twenty weeks?

 

Was your father in law principled enough not to take his share of the pension pot?

Link to post
Share on other sites

How in the name of the wee man does collecting monies which are due not improve lives? Is a debt that goes back twenty years any different to a debt which goes back twenty months or twenty weeks?

 

Was your father in law principled enough not to take his share of the pension pot?

 

How does collecting a 20yo debt improve lives? No doubt you'll come up with some clichéd story along the lines of "nurses, schools" etc, but pursuing an elderly man/woman for a couple of thousand pounds after the worst recession since the South Sea Bubble, where most people are still feeling the pinch, will probably cost more to pursue than what the initial debt is worth. Needless to say, that not pursuing a debt generated by the most unpopular tax since 'window tax' would be popular with most people.

 

As for my father-in-law. There are no principles when it comes to surviving. He, like a large percentage of his peers, couldn't afford to pay the charge, so he slipped off into the black economy, came off the electoral register and done his taxi driver for 20 years or so, paying next to zero tax. Notwithstanding his contribution to the treasury via fuel duty, VAT, as well as being a borderline alcoholic and 40 smokes a day which as you'll appreciate generated a large amount of tax, which would've went some way to contributing to his pension which he claims as will his peers.

 

I must applaud Salmond - and Cameron for that matter as both have indicated that they'd like to see tax cuts. Letting the people spend the money they've earned is entirely fair and should be encouraged in 21st century Britain. The socialist experiment hasn't worked, time to consign it to history.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.