Colin Fox on abolishing the council tax.

Time To Abolish The Council Tax - Not Freeze It

The opinion polls suggest Labour and the SNP are neck and neck in the race for Holyrood 2011. Interestingly both parties now support a freeze in Council Tax bills for the next year. They arrived at this 'freeze' via different routes however.

Like the Scottish Socialist Party the SNP are opposed to the Council Tax in principle, believing, as the majority of Scots do, that it is unfair and hits the less well off disproportionately hard. The Council Tax is indeed a regressive tax that bears no relation to a person's income. Consequently the least well off are hit hardest as the wealthy pay coppers. Since they have not been able to replace it with an income based alternative, the SNP have settled for second be stand 'freezing' the current charges.

Labour on the other hand has no principled objection to the Council Tax. They argue for a freeze on the grounds that they purportedly want to 'help hard working families in this time of austerity'. Most people believe that it has more to do with avoiding being politically outmanoeuvred by the SNP. Either way freezing the Council Tax does nothing to address it's fundamental unfairness. Indeed it may be argued a freeze helps the rich most of all.

As things stand the wealthy in Scotland pay a tiny tiny percentage of their income on this bill. For example,Stephen Hestor (the CEO of RBS) was just awarded a £7.7 million pay package for the coming year. Living in Edinburgh his Council Tax bill will again be frozen at £2,338 or 0.03% of his salary whilst some pensioners are paying 25% of their income on theirs.

The Scottish Socialist Part believes this is utterly unacceptable and this week we will highlight our fully costed proposals for a local income tax to replace the Council Tax. Our plans would mean the burden would be lifted from the shoulders of of pensioners, low paid workers and the poor and at the same time force the wealthy to pay their fair share for a change.

Here's how it works. Each individual in Scotland will pay towards the funding of local services but the more you earn the more you pay. So, for example, if your income is less than £10,000 you are exempt. That's too low to force people to contribute. Thereafter, on incomes over £10,000 and up to £30,000 you pay 4.5%. So if you are on £200,000 your bill is £450 [4.5% of the earnings over £10,000] If you earn more than £30,000 you pay nothing on the first £10,000, 4.5% on the next £20,000 and 10% on the earnings over £30,000. The next incremental step is to 15% on earnings over £50,000 and 20% on earnings over £100,000. This graduated rate (which the SNP opposes) is fairer and ensures that as your income goes up so does your tax obligation.

Economists at Paisley University who scrutinised these figures found that 77% of Scots will be better off compared to now. Furthermore, using the latest Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs figures, they are able to demonstrate that these proposals would bring another £1.5 billion into Holyrood's Treasury.

So, not only would this tax be fairer and redistributive, it would also halt the need for any cuts to public services in Scotland. And that's a freeze we DO need.

Taken from Colin Fox's blog @ http://sspcolinfox.blogspot.com

SSP MANIFESTO LAUNCHED

Colin Fox on SSP manifesto launch.

The Scottish Socialist Party launched our manifesto for the 2011 Holyrood elections yesterday at a press conference in Glasgow. With me at the launch were the other top of the list candidates from across Scotland. Frances Curran (Glasgow), SSP Councillor Jim Bollan (West of Scotland), and myself briefly outlined the main points in our magnificent manifesto [which can be downloaded from the SSP website] for the assembled press pack.
We gave the people of Scotland a cast iron guarantee that if they elect SSP MSPs on May 5th we will not vote for cuts to public services, to jobs, wages or conditions. This is a very important commitment because this will be the first Parliament faced with a reduced budget so MSPs will either vote for cuts or fight them.
The SSP has never, in twelve years, voted to cut public services or the standard of living of working people and we have no intention of starting now.
Second we stressed that we are committed to scrapping the hated and unfair Council Tax. We intend to replace it with an income based alternative which sees the wealthy pay more and the poor exempted.
And last, but by no means least, is our support for an independent socialist Scotland, a modern democratic republic. Whilst other parties dilute their commitment to independence we remain passionate about it. And as we will endure the sycophants cooing over a Royal wedding in the last week of this election campaign we felt it important to restate our commitment to a modern democratic republic for Scotland.
The press conference was well attended as the picture shows. As well as the BBC and STV film crews, several other photographers and journalists were present and their questions reflected their growing recognition that support for the SSP is increasing noticeably.
The coverage of our manifesto launch has, as usual, been patchy; some good, some bad, some non-existent. STV news carried a full interview and the greatest column inches were found in the Aberdeen Press and Journal. So, hats off to them for fair coverage and Dunces Caps to the BBC, The Daily Record and the other tabloids for ignoring us once again.

Taken from Colin Fox's blog. original article

Won’t Get Fooled Again or Imagine

Letter from a comrade

George Mackin

Is it just me - or have you felt angry this week? Enraged. Just under third of a million deprived of all benefits this year and worse to come, much worse. What planet are these people on? Tories: lower than vermin; add to the pile the unctuous and venal Liberals. Back to the workhouse, back to the soup kitchen. Targets to be met, after all it is only common sense. George Bush on the perils and joys of water-boarding; a royal wedding; red poppies; student tuition fees; and a certain criminal and less than civil case which shines a whole new light onto the phrase the personal is political.

Never mind I’m not in the Scottish Socialist Party any more. I have done my bit. Thirty years of that political stuff. What thanks do you get? Anyway some of the Left are just bonkers.: one party states and would be little Napoleons handing out truth on high in condescending three hour rants. Gerry Healey and… make your own list of snake oil salesman … Want to know the truth? Read this book. Look no further. The stories I could tell of people on the Left treating other people like feudal underlings.

Never has political quietism been so appealing. Rock Guitar anyone? Hurry up Harry come on, were going down the pub. Dah Dah Dah.

So why do I feel enraged? A soon to be fifty year old whose best days are over. Winter’s breath upon me, not much time left, best to enjoy every sandwich.

There is a big neo-liberal train that has been a rolling all my adult life, like the Terminator it never stops. It is inexorable and loathsome. Vote Labour? Nah! Just a slower train but the same direction and let’s not forget Jim Murphy. Set Scotland Free vote by voting tweedle dee SNP. Nah just a different flag ( mind you I do detest the Butcher’s Apron).

The Labour Party; The SNP; The SSP, I have been in all three. In fact let’s not forget Militant Tendency I was a supporter/ reader of that party/ tendency/paper many years ago.. Another story, comrade. World Prospectus 1981 anyone ? SWP: the non-thinking man’s millenarian cult. That’s the problem with Capitalism : too much choice.

Which party are you in now? Not a question but a sneer riddled with guilt None. None?

Yet out off all the groups left standing which party to I most identify with ? Easy: The SSP. I’m Pleased that the Greens won a seat in England, though. Political parties, not the battle but the echo of the battle as James Connolly used to say.

How do you feel about that? Not being in a political party? Great. Shite. Relieved, Bereft. Depressed. Happy. Bitter. Angry. Enraged. Sad, so sad, what a waste. numb so numb.

Mind you if you think some of the Left are bonkers you should see the SNP.? Another story, comrade.

Imagine or Won’t Get Fooled Again? Which sentiment suits me best?

A credible Left, a Republican Left, a non-patriarchal Left, a smash up the hated British State Left, a radical Left; not content to live within the confines of capitalist Left, a non-neo-Stalinist Left, a Green left, a non-sectarian Left, an anti-nuclear Left, a non-primate dominance in any form Left. A humanist and sceptical Left..

A big rock fell upon us. Devil and the deep blue sea or A rock and a hard place, call it what you like. Hard choices were made. Ken what I mean? No textbook for those difficult paths. Nobody comes out squeaky clean. There is no one to cast the first stones. But let us not to be too hard on ourselves or on others.: we all could have done things better. We forgive as best we can; we learn our lessons as best we can - we move on. We make history but not to our own making.

The struggle continues; we rebuild. Life is green but the truth is grey as they say and life goes on until the end. No consolation for us materialists. One life and one life only. Do we accept? Or do we act? Do we let people exercise power over us or do we challenge their authority?

A Time to rage; a time to grieve; a time for sadness; a time for hope; a time to regroup.;a time for praxical reflection; a time for optimism and pessimism; a time to talk.

LETTER TO PAPERS ON BANKERS BONUSES

Whilst the Coalition Government with its ill-judged ‘recovery’ policies must share responsibility for the existing financial mess the country is in, the public should not lose sight of the fact that the previous Labour Government is at least equally if not more culpable.

We only have to think of Fred Goodwin who under that Labour Government received a knighthood for services to the banking industry. Even though he drove the Royal Bank of Scotland to within twenty minutes of bankruptcy his parting gift from the government-rescued bank was an enormous ‘golden goodbye’ and gargantuan pension.

Also let’s not forget that Tony Blair headed the Labour Government during the time bankers were being given free rein to act recklessly in pursuit of super profits. He is currently amassing millions of pounds from the lecture circuit and for working as an advisor to a number of the companies who are slashing thousands of British workers’ jobs.

Consequently, it is quite rich for the Labour Party, which once upon a time in a far-off land professed to be “Socialist”, to be calling for a ‘progressive front’ to oppose the ‘cuts’.

As for the Coalition Government, the hypocritical phrase “we are all in this together” which David Cameron and Nick Clegg are peddling has to be placed in its true context. Despite hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs currently being sacrificed or downgraded in a desperate effort to resolve the current financial crisis, the top bankers largely responsible for precipitating the economic downturn are still being awarded obscene bonuses and inflated salaries.

The working man and women are “together” in the mire and the bankers and politicians are “together” in the gravy. How long will this cycle of exploitation and abuse continue to be tolerated by the British public?

Ally Hendry 

West lothian branch 

Letter sent to West Lothian courier on Saturday's anti-cuts demo in Edinburgh

Last Saturday’s demonstration in Edinburgh against the welfare cuts announced by the coalition Government was a damning indictment against both Labour and SNP. Neither party had a meaningful presence at the demonstration since they both agree with the principle of the cuts differing only with their severity and speed of implementation.

However the Scottish Socialist Party had a significant presence with party members from all over the country in attendance. We organised a street stall with thousands of people signing our petition, taking party literature and talking to party members. The majority of people welcomed our alternative approach to the impending cuts.

As witnessed on Saturday the people of Scotland are opposed to these draconian cuts and the Scottish Socialist Party will be at the forefront of the campaign promoting our Socialist alternative for the people of Scotland.


MORE PHOTOS FROM THE DEMO. 

Letter sent by west lothian branch to local newspapers on upcoming cuts.

This week the full extent of the proposed Tory-Lib Dems cuts deemed necessary to deal with ‘the economic mess inherited from the previous Labour Government’ have been revealed for ordinary working class and middle income families to ponder.

Prior to the announced cuts, thousands of jobs, both in the public and private sectors, have already been lost as a result of the economic crisis provoked by the perceived need for the Government to bail out several banks on the brink of bankruptcy to the tune of £350 billion.

However, this latest “crisis of capitalism” can and should be dealt with in a different manner from the Labour, Tory, Lib Dem and SNP politicians who all agree that cuts have to be made to reduce the budget deficit and level of national indebtedness but only disagree on the timetable for said cuts which will result in further job losses, more repossessed houses and reduced living standards.

The truth is there are plenty of alternatives for dealing with the debt crisis that avoid the need to curtail essential services and jobs in the public sector. These include shutting off tax avoidance and evasion schemes used by wealthy companies that cost this country over £100bn annually; taxing the huge profits amassed by the banks and the obscene bonuses given to their top employees; scrapping Public Private Partnership schemes to build our schools, hospitals, prisons and roads at a greatly inflated cost to the tax payer; withdrawing our troops from the senseless war in Afghanistan; and cancelling plans for the multi-billion replacement for the ageing Trident submarines which would not only be beneficial to national finances but also serve to promote the cause of nuclear disarmament and reduce the threat of global annihilation.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer has given notice that the pain and suffering via cuts in services and job losses already endured by many working people in the wake of the current economic crisis are to be amplified and extended much more widely. He claims that his proposed course of action to deal with the budget deficit and national debt is in the ‘national interest’. Not so when there are perfectly viable alternatives that avoid hardship for the vast majority of citizens.

CAPITALISM IN CRISIS

Capitalism in Crisis

It is clear as we enter an indefinite period of ‘austerity’ (i.e. cuts in social services, redundancies, wage cuts, and rising taxes) that capitalism has failed as a system, even on its own terms. For a while the true nature of the system is exposed more clearly for all to see: the so-called wealth generators, the capitalist class, are actually exploitative opportunists, who in collusion with the state are making the working class pay the costs of the crisis which was not of their making. The working class, the overwhelming majority in society, is made up of not just those in paid employment, but all who do not own or control the means of production. That includes the unemployed, pensioners and students.

The current crisis of capitalism is not down to a handful of irresponsible ‘bankers’ making dodgy decisions; it is a crisis of the system as a whole. Capitalism operates according to a trade cycle that involves periods of full production alternating with recessions i.e. ‘boom and bust’ are inherent and unavoidable features of capitalism. In a recession under capitalism, economic logic dictates that much of productive capacity is left idle and workers are made redundant. Nevertheless, the perverse logic of capitalism not withstanding, it is technically within society’s power to provide constantly enough for all and that unemployment and poverty are unnecessary evils because the means are available to overcome them. Yet the lives of millions under the prevailing capitalist system are at the whim of abstract market forces, which take on a life of their own and cause hardship and misery all over the world.

There is, however, an alternative to capitalism. It involves appropriating the means of production into the hands of the majority of society in order to meet human needs rather than to satisfy a tiny wealth owning class’s desire for profit. The alternative is called socialism.