The SNP decried Labour and Tory promises to freeze the Council Tax as a sham, which would leave Scots voters facing big tax increases, after an independent report showed the parties have failed to include money in their budget to maintain the level of Council Tax after their proposed one-year freeze ended.
In order to keep Council Tax at the same level, the funding for a freeze must remain with local government, but Labour and Tory plans take this £70 million back out of council budgets, requiring the hole to be filled by Scottish families.
Detailed analysis in the report, by the Centre for Public Policy for Regions (CPPR), shows that both Labour and the Tories only budget to fund the freeze by putting money in the system for a single year – 2012-13, in addition to the 2011-12 freeze already fully funded by the SNP Government.
That means that, once their proposed freeze came to an end in 2013-14, the Labour and Tory plans would need a £70 million cash injection – on top of whatever the planned Council Tax increase for that year would be. The Lib Dems also fail to properly fund their proposed freeze by making the same mistake and not keeping additional funds in the system.
Finance Secretary and SNP candidate for Perthshire North John Swinney said:
"This is a damning expose of the other parties' Council Tax plans which reveals a devastating black hole at their heart, which could only be filled by massive Council Tax hikes.
"We know Labour and the Tories both have an appalling track record on Council Tax – a charge which soared by 60 and 40 per cent respectively when they were in power – and this expert analysis simply confirms that Scots households would be in line for further huge increases.
"The other parties have either failed to do their sums properly, which means they are not fit to be trusted with Scotland's finances, or they know their freeze is not properly funded and are trying to dupe householders who would then be punished with massive Council Tax increases."
Dismissing Labour's attack on the SNP's manifesto, in which they issue a press release which misses the bottom line figures produced by the Centre for Public Policy for Regions, Mr Swinney said:
"This is a schoolboy error from Labour, which simply adds to the massive doubts about their credibility. They've actually missed out the bottom line in the figures provided by the CPPR, which shows a surplus in each year of the next Parliament under the SNP's plans – building up to £1.2 billion in 2014/15. This is a hugely embarrassing mistake – a real howler which shows they are not fit for opposition, let alone office.
"The SNP Government execeeded our efficiency savings targets in each year of the last parliament. We will have delivered well over £1.6 billion in efficiencies in 2010/11, for example.
"The CPPR figures clearly show the SNP's spending plans with a budget surplus in every year due to building on the efficiency savings programme we have already put in place and exceeded in government – and which has enabled us to balance the books successfully for the last four years.
"A re-elected SNP Government will continue to deliver efficient government, as this report confirms."
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