Thursday 12 February 2009

What the Gnats said about council tax

"The council tax is deeply oppressive, deeply unfair. We see that, virtually everyone in Scotland I meet knows that. It's wrong and we're going to abolish it." - Alex Salmond, April 2007.

"I have no doubt Scotland will judge harshly any MSP who votes to keep the council tax in the face of the overwhelming benefit that would flow to millions of ordinary Scots" - Alex Salmond, September 2008.

"There will be no misunderstanding. We are determined to abolish the unfair council tax. The council tax is an inherently unfair tax with a very loose connection to people's ability to pay" - Alex Salmond, April 2008.

"The SNP will scrap the Council Tax and introduce a fairer system based on ability to pay. Families and individuals on low and middle incomes will on average be between £260 and £350 a year better off. Nine out of ten pensioners will pay less local tax." - SNP election manifesto 2007.

"The SNP are pledged to scrap the council tax, and Labour's attacks on the SNP in defence of this iniquitous tax is a spectacular own-goal. Labour's unfair council tax and the SNP policy for fair local tax will be a major campaign issue. It is a big winner for the SNP in this election - overwhelmingly, people back the SNP in wanting to axe the council tax." - Nicola Sturgeon, March 2007.

"An SNP government will help pensioners and families too. We'll get rid, once and for all, of the unfair council tax. The council tax that has gone up by 55 per cent under Labour and which hits hardest those who can least afford to pay it. We'll put in its place a local income tax, based on ability to pay. Under our proposals, a majority of pensioners will pay nothing and most people will pay less than they do now. It is called fairness. It is a principle that old Labour used to believe in but that New Labour has betrayed. - Nicola Sturgeon, September 2005.

"There has been talk about helping disadvantaged communities and the need for social justice. I cannot think of a more immediate way to achieve those goals than by abolishing the council tax...On the doorsteps during the election a year ago, that issue was first on their minds. In all the opinion polling since then, a majority of those who say that they will support each of the parties in Scotland support a local income tax and want an end to the council tax. That will be achieved in this year by the Government, which I welcome very much." Rob Gibson MSP, September 2008.

And here's what I say to Alex Salmond: You and your party are a bunch of unprincipled lying charlatans who will say and do anything to get in power and then betray your promises one by one.

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