Greens launch tax plans: Fairer, more sustainable

The Scottish Greens today set out the detail of the party's proposals
to replace both Council Tax and Uniform Business Rates with a Land
Value Tax from 2012 at an event at the Renfrew Ferry. At the rates
proposed by the party, this move would bring in almost £1.1bn of
additional revenue each year, as well as providing incentives for
sustainable business development within local planning guidelines.
Those living in residential properties currently banded A to E would
pay less, and those in Scotland's most valuable properties, banded F
to H, would pay more. Overall, more than 85% of Scots households will
see their tax bills fall. (1)

Unlike the SNP's unworkable and unfair income tax plans, Land Value
Tax for domestic properties would also continue to be eligible for
Council Tax Benefit under the terms of the 1992 Local Government
Finance Act, which allows Scottish Ministers to define the land and
properties to which both Council Tax and Council Tax Benefit apply.
(2)

Urban vacant land would be brought into the tax system for the first
time, deterring "land banking" and encouraging business development,
as would agriculture, forestry and shooting estates, although at a
heavily discounted rate compared to other businesses. Land Value Tax
is calculated by applying a poundage rate to the overall value of the
land in question. Land values in Scotland vary significantly according
to location and planning permission - an average hectare of industrial
land is valued at £1m, while an average hectare of agricultural land
is valued at just over £4,000. (3) At the levels proposed by the
Scottish Greens, the tax on the former would be £80,000 per annum
while the tax on the latter would be just £100 per annum.

Patrick Harvie said:

"Local taxation is broken, budgets for public services are being
squeezed, and vacant land and empty commercial properties are a blight
on our towns and cities. Scotland is being held back by a Council Tax
regime which was unfair and outdated even before the SNP started
setting it nationally. Neither the Council Tax nor business rates
provide any incentives to promote either the maintenance of property
or the sensible and efficient development of land.

"A switch to Land Value Tax should have happened more than a century
ago, when it was the centrepiece of Churchill and Lloyd George's
'People's Budget' proposals in 1909. Labour also sought to introduce
it in 1931, but were again blocked by vested interests. Land values
are affected by the local investments society makes, and this change
would ensure society in turn benefits from these unearned windfalls,
while also cracking down on tax avoidance.

"Scotland is facing the worst squeeze on our public finances in a
generation, and all the other Holyrood parties can do is squabble
about how to hand on the Tory cuts from Westminster. They all set
entirely the wrong course for Scotland - we should be using Holyrood's
existing powers to invest in jobs, education, housing, and the
low-carbon economy they all talk about. There is no other credible
alternative on the table, and only a second vote for the Greens can
protect our public services and our distinctive social settlement for
the long term. In the next session of Parliament it's either Land
Value Tax or bust."

Notes

1. Full details are available here:
http://scot.gr/lvtplans

2. See 72 (4) in particular here (this is pre-devolution legislation
so the role of the Scottish Secretary here is now filled by Scottish
Ministers):
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/14/part/II

3. See p.15 of Andy Wightman's earlier report:
http://scot.gr/lvtreport

The current proposals supercede the poundage levels set out in that report.

James Mackenzie
Head of Media
Scottish Green Party
Mob: 07921 333 617
james.mackenzie@scottishgreens.org.uk