The Scottish Green Party manifesto, to be launched today, will include proposals to put 0.5p onto the Scottish Variable Rate from 2013, the party announced today, working on the assumption that Westminster's cuts to Scottish funding will continue throughout the next session of the Scottish Parliament. At a conservative estimate, using the 2008 UK Budget figures as a baseline, this move would raise more than £200m a year.
Someone earning £20,000 would pay an additional £1.20 a week in tax, while someone earning £44,875 would pay £3.60 more a week.
On the eve of the manifesto launch, Patrick Harvie said:
"No-one wants to raise taxes, but neither do Scots want to see vital public services go to the wall. Alongside a shift to Land Value Tax that would cut bills for more than 85 per cent of Scots households, this move is likely to be essential to avoid the worst of the UK Government's cuts agenda. Pressure on household bills is very real, but the way to create the biggest savings for people is through reduced public transport fares, energy efficiency, local food networks, and preventing property bubbles. All these things can be done with the political will, and the investment. Our manifesto will show how.
"When the 1997 Scottish Parliament referendum went through, the public voted clearly for a Parliament with the powers to protect Scotland against a future Tory Government's assault on the public sector. It was a hypothetical situation back then, but now it's all too real, and if anything, it's worse than we feared. In an ideal world Scotland would have the power to vary the top rate of income tax, to crack down on bankers' bonuses and to bring in the so-called Robin Hood Tax instead. But these are difficult times, and the timidity of the other parties leaves Scotland exposed to a nightmare of service closures, compulsory redundancies and a worsening economic situation as the cuts bite."
The Scottish Greens also welcomed criticisms of the other Holyrood parties' election manifestos as "unambitious, largely irrelevant and financially unsound" by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla).
Cosla's criticisms focused on the unworkability of the various council tax freezes that have been pledged by the SNP, Labour, Tories and Liberal Democrats as well as the lack of solutions being put forward to offset a likely devastating £1.7bn hole in Scotland's public finances by 2013/2014. Scottish Greens are alone among the Holyrood parties at this election in offering a replacement to both Council Tax and Uniform Business Rates: a Land Value Tax that, according to the Greens, would bring in £1.04bn of additional revenue each year of the next parliamentary session.
Patrick Harvie, co-convenor of the Scottish Greens, said:
"With less than three weeks to go until polling day, Cosla's comments today inject some much-needed realism into this election. Every day we hear criticisms from each of the other Holyrood parties that the 'cat is out of the bag' on some point or other of rival proposals. The fact is that the horse has now bolted on all of their fantasy giveaway schemes that they are unable to afford.
"Cosla presents a very grim picture from the sharp end, where the cuts are now biting, and it's clear that local taxation is broken. Land Value Tax offers the most credible way forward to deal with the the worst squeeze on our public finances in a generation. With the proceeds of Land Value Tax we calculate that our public services can be protected, while also providing major new incentives for sustainable business development and delivering reductions in taxation for 85 per cent of Scots households. The debate has been delayed for long enough, it's time for the SNP, Labour, the Tories and the LibDems to square with voters in Scotland as the Greens are doing."
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The party also pledged yesterday to invest £940m in affordable housing over the next session of Parliament, which would reverse the recent 30 per cent cut to housing made by the SNP in this year's Budget. Greens will instead invest in new social housing across Scotland, in a plan which would provide significant help to the 161,800 people currently on local authority waiting lists or in temporary accommodation. This commitment sits alongside the party's key pledge to bring in a £100m a year programme to insulate every home in Scotland for free. Kirsten Robb, the Scottish Greens' housing spokesperson and top candidate for Central Region, said: "We want a good choice of rented homes available in every community, affordable housing that's warm and well-maintained, but the SNP's serious budget cuts mean this prospect is receding fast. Over the next session of Parliament, Greens are proposing to invest almost a billion pounds in housing, enough to reverse those cuts from Holyrood's next budget onwards.Related posts: