Letter to The Herald
Council tax pledges
George Lyon suggests that the Scottish Socialist Party should try to
build a consensus to abolish the hated council Tax (Letters, November
23). We have attempted to. The problem we have faced is that parties
supposedly committed to its abolition will in fact do nothing to get
rid of it.
In 2003 I stood on an election manifesto which pledged that, if
elected, our MSPs would bring forward legislation to abolish the
council tax and replace it with a tax based on the ability to pay.
The strange thing is that according to the Scottish Liberals' 2003
election manifesto, so did Mr Lyon.
The Liberals' manifesto said: "[We will] replace council tax with a
local income tax related to ability to pay . . ." Just in case that
seems like ancient history and a promise that can safely be ignored
because it was made before the Liberals went into coalition with New
Labour, can I point to the Scottish Liberal Democrats' manifesto for
May 2005? It stated: "Ten Reasons to Vote Scottish Liberal Democrat –
Reason Number 05: Axe the Council Tax."
So, George, the next time it comes to an election, who should the
voters trust? Those who try to make good on their manifesto promises
or those, like the Liberal Democrats, who think that promises to the
electorate aren't worth the paper that they're written on?
Tommy Sheridan, MSP, The Scottish Parliament.
