Dave Thompson MSP

Dave Thompson, SNP MSP for Skye Lochaber and Badenoch, has spoken out against the cross referencing of the thousands of people who joined the electoral roll to vote in the Scottish independence referendum, against council tax and even poll tax arrears going as far back as 1989.

Commenting on this Mr Thompson said, “I appreciate the need to collect taxes in a stringent and timeous manner. However, using the referendum as a form of tax collecting opportunism is crass to say the least”.

The Local Government body Cosla has said all councils have an obligation to collect outstanding money and Aberdeenshire Council has already started checking the list of those registered for the first time to see if there are any outstanding tax bills.

Dave went on, “During the referendum we witnessed unprecedented democratic expression that the referendum registration and turnout represented.

“What sort of legacy do we want to take from that? Is the message we want to send that we are prepared to hark back to the disgraced Thatcher years and a discredited Poll Tax or that the referendum represented the democratic awakening of today?

Dave concluded, “There are many folk struggling and many, who saw the referendum as an avenue to change their lives for the better, but what their taking part in the democratic process has the potential to do if councils follow through on this is undermine that aspiration entirely, which will inevitably lead to distrust of councils and their elected representatives.

“The amount that would be collected in these cases is disproportionate to the amount of time and effort that will have to be put in by already hard working Council employees to chase these figures, which will only amount to a few thousand pounds in real terms.  This is time and effort that could be concentrated on chasing the large scale tax evaders.

“I would urge councils to assess the situation with some shred of common decency by leaving the new referendum registrations list well alone where tax collection is concerned”.

Notes:

BBC News Article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-29412920

Herald Article:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/poorest-face-punishment-after-voting-in-referendum.25465772