The Scottish Government planned to bring forward legislation

Legislation

Legislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...

 to replace the council tax

Council tax

Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...

 with a local income tax (LIT), as part of the funding for Scottish local authorities.

Different proposals to abolish council tax

Council tax

Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...

 formed part of the manifesto

Manifesto

A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...

s of the Scottish National Party

Scottish National Party

The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

 and the Liberal Democrats

Scottish Liberal Democrats

The Scottish Liberal Democrats are one of the three state parties within the federal Liberal Democrats; the others being the Welsh Liberal Democrats and the Liberal Democrats in England...

 during the Scottish Parliament general election of May 2007. The SNP version involves the centralised distribution of funds raised from the new tax throughout the Scottish local authorities whereas the Liberal Democrats' proposal devolves the distribution to individual authorities.

The newly-reconvened Scottish Parliament

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament is the devolved national, unicameral legislature of Scotland, located in the Holyrood area of the capital, Edinburgh. The Parliament, informally referred to as "Holyrood", is a democratically elected body comprising 129 members known as Members of the Scottish Parliament...

 narrowly backed the principle of some form of local income tax in June 2007 but left questions unanswered as to how the two proposals could be practically reconciled. Independent MSP Margo MacDonald

Margo MacDonald

Margo MacDonald MSP is a Scottish politician and former Scottish National Party MP and Deputy Leader...

 also backs the proposal of a local income tax in principle, and her support could be important in a tight vote.

Des Browne

Des Browne

Desmond Henry Browne, Baron Browne of Ladyton is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 1997 to 2010...

, the then Labour

Scottish Labour Party

The Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....

 Secretary of State for Scotland

Secretary of State for Scotland

The Secretary of State for Scotland is the principal minister of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Scotland. He heads the Scotland Office , a government department based in London and Edinburgh. The post was created soon after the Union of the Crowns, but was...

, said that the UK government was likely to withhold £

Pound sterling

The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...

400 million in Council Tax Benefit if the Scottish government implemented the proposals.

Previous proposals

A Scottish Service Tax was proposed as a replacement for the council tax by the Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Socialist Party

The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....

, however the SSP lost all of its MSPs at the 2007 general election.

See also

• Business rates in Scotland
  Business rates in Scotland
  Business rates is the commonly used name of Non-Domestic Rates in Scotland, a tax on occupation of non-domestic property. Rates are a property tax used to fund local services that dates back to the Poor Law.- History :...
  
  
• Tartan tax
  Tartan tax
  The Scottish Variable Rate is a mechanism which enables the Scottish Government to vary the basic rate of UK income tax by up to 3p in the pound...
  
  
• Taxation in the United Kingdom
  Taxation in the United Kingdom
  Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to a minimum of two different levels of government: The central government and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty...
  
  
• Income tax
  Income tax
  An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
  
  
• Local taxation
• Council Tax
  Council tax
  Council Tax is the system of local taxation used in England, Scotland and Wales to part fund the services provided by local government in each country. It was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, as a successor to the unpopular Community Charge...
  
  
• Land Value Tax
  Land value tax
  A land value tax is a levy on the unimproved value of land. It is an ad valorem tax on land that disregards the value of buildings, personal property and other improvements...