Rebel LibDems back Sheridan on tax abolition

TWO rebel Liberal Democrat MSPs and three independents last night gave unexpected force to a Scottish Parliament back-bench bill from Tommy Sheridan to abolish the council tax.
Mr Sheridan, leader of the Scottish Socialists, surprised Holyrood by effectively gaining the minimum backing necessary for forcing the parliament to consider his proposed law replacing the council tax with a tax "based on personal income".
His Council Tax Abolition (Scotland) Bill must now be placed in the parliamentary pipeline and, if considered constitutionally valid by George Reid, the presiding officer, will be sent for consideration to the appropriate committees, probably those considering local government and finance.
Abolition of the council tax and its replacement with a local income tax is SSP and LibDem policy. The SNP also wants the council tax abolished, but has so far no policy on what would replace it.
If the bill gathers more support, particularly from Labour left-wingers, it could provoke a plausible challenge to the Labour-LibDem coalition's six-vote majority.
John Farquhar Munro, the individualist LibDem MSP for Ross, Skye and Inverness West, and Donald Gorrie, another LibDem parliamentary free spirit, both signed Mr Sheridan's bill along with John Swinburne, the pensioners' list MSP from Central Scotland; Margo MacDonald, the Lothians independent; and Jean Turner, the hospitals campaigner from Strathkelvin and Bearsden.
To make headway in Holyrood, a member's bill must attract 11 signatures plus that of the sponsor. Apart from the two LibDems and three independents, all five of Mr Sheridan's SSP parliamentary colleagues will support it, and Mr Sheridan said he also had support from other MSPs, including some Nationalists.
His move comes after the LibDems in Brighton this week voted to scrap the council tax after an outcry in England about its soaring cost, particularly to pensioners and those on low incomes.
The SSP campaigned during the Scottish Parliament elections for the tax to be scrapped and replaced by a "service" tax, which was widely interpreted as a local income tax.
Labour claimed income tax excepting the basic rate was a power reserved to Westminster and that the SSP plan was therefore a non-starter.
The SSP leader said: "The unfair Tory council tax is now on the scrapheap. It hammers the pensioners and lower paid workers in Scotland, but pampers the rich and wealthy. It has been called the 'pensioner tax' because of its disproportionate effect on pensioner incomes.
"We in the SSP want a Scottish-wide service tax applied progressively to redistribute income and generate more money for local authorities. The Liberals and SNP are also opposed to the council tax. My bill will allow it to be abolished."
Mr Sheridan will challenge Jack McConnell on the council tax at question time today. The Herald