The Scottish Greens 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 per cent of Scots households will see their tax bills fall.
Unlike the SNP's 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.
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.
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 Scotland is being held back by a Council Tax regime which was unfair and outdated even before the SNP started setting it nationally.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.
Mr Harvie went on to say:
"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."
Commenting on the Daily Telegraph report on the SNP's proposed Local Income Tax, Patrick Harvie said:
"This is an extraordinary revelation, and it makes it clear why Alex Salmond went to court to keep this information from coming out. The SNP's tax plans are built on a massive fiction, and they also rely on the tax powers they handed back to London. A black hole on this scale would either mean a substantial extension of the SNP's cuts, or a massive hike in tax for working Scots. Alex Salmond should be ashamed of himself for trying to take this election under false pretences.
"This collapse of the SNP's plans means the land value tax we launched are the only credible and costed alternative to the discredited Council Tax. Our tax proposals will cut bills for more than 85% of Scots households while raising more revenue from the wealthy and from untaxed business assets. As things stand, none of the other Holyrood parties are left with any credible alternative to handing on the Tory cuts to Scottish public services."
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