Scottish Mirror editorial, 10/02/04

THE Council Tax is a bit like a nasty cold.
Nobody wants it - but nobody's quite sure how to get rid of it either.
So the Mirror welcomes Tommy Sheridan's campaign - launching today - to scrap the Council Tax.
Everybody knows you don't get something for nothing. And local services - like schools and street lighting - have to be paid for somehow.
But, under the Council Tax, pensioners and the low paid get hammered while the rich pay a pittance.
So hopefully the Scottish Parliament will see sense and get rid of it.
But, like everything else at the Scottish Parliament, there is a problem.
The SNP want to scrap the tax, so do the Greens and the independents like Margo MacDonald.
Even Labour's coalition chums in the Lib Dems want to get rid of it.
But the parties who want it to be scrapped can't agree on what to replace it with.
The Scottish Socialists want a Scottish Service Tax, based on ability to pay and making the rich pay more.
The SNP, Greens and Lib Dems all want different kinds of local income tax. And they are all falling out over which system is the best.
So we could end up stuck with the council tax even though most people want it to be ditched.
The Mirror today calls on those opposing the council tax to bury the hatchet and unite on one thing - scrapping it.
Backroom bickering on what to replace it with can come later.
For now - just get rid of it and give Scotland's pensioners and low paid a break. That's medicine worth taking.