Pay Up And Shut Up
As the debate rumbles on at a snails pace as to whether scrape the very unfair local tax and/or what to put in its place.
Not an easy decision,should the powers that be carry on screwing those least able to make this gross payment,or replace it with a local charge which reflects your ability to pay.
This badly thought out scheme which robs the poor to let the rich off the hook,should have at the very best been a temperary scheme has in itself created poverty amongst the working poor.Of course you can apply for relief or help with the community charge,but one look at this extremly intimidating form,puts you right off,and you might argue that is the desired effect.
Our very own peoples party the rulers of this great and alledgedly rich city are quite happy to rob the least able to pay and argue that services need to be paid for. Yes quite true but paid by whom. The bulk of the charge is paid by working class people struggling in an already overpriced city.
We think everybody should contribute to quality services within the city,and by that we mean tourists,with a minimum of 5% levy on trips to this city,to be put into the local coffers. Next there is a strong argument and one we advocate ourselves that those seeking to enter this country are subject to local taxes again on a percentage basis and those refusing to pay or caught dodgeing the tax will not be allowed to live in this city. We are after all not a charity.
The next step we believe is to individually charge people on what they earn. It is madness to charge four potential wage earners the same as a person living on a fixed income,absolute madness. We have a national insurance scheme,we have an income tax scheme,it is not hard to relate peoples income to paying.
We have a distintive class system in this city,it is distintive by the part of the city you live in.So for instance if you live in the fur coat and no knickers land of Morningside,you are somehow better off than those that live in a maisonette in say somewhere like Muirhouse. Okay if that is the case then you will contribute far more to those least able to enjoy the wine and cheese lifestyle of the chattering classes.
The balance of who pays what in this city has swung in the favour of those who can afford to pay more and they can enjoy the jolly super duper time to be had in this most cosmipolitan of citys where according to our city fathers the streets are paved with gold,that is of course if you do not venture to the wild west of the council schemes,where the streets are full of holes.
This absurd penal tax is long overdue a major reform,it hits the poorest families and causes hardship,which goes un-noticed,those struggling to buy their own home those who have young children and there is only one wage earner,the long term sick and those perpetually stuck in the poverty trap.
Who does that leave-the jolly hockey stick brigade,the people that drop their kids off at their private school in the four by four,and then off to the exciting gossip that is the coffee morning. Do they care that the poorest have to pay to keep them in their comfortable surroundings,no of course not.
The executive has a moral and ethical duty to reverse this ludicrous situation which compounds socio/economical problems. Will they do it. it would not be popular with the Cramond sailing set or the cricketers of the Carlton club in the Grange,but it would be right,and that is something that politicians are not good at doing the right thing.
We are told by the great and the good that Scotland is short of people to fill the job vacancies so we welcome people from other countries to work here,we have to as the government has lost complete control over migrant workers. As well as welcoming new people to our land and before the do-gooders get their overpowering mits on them, these people will be subject to all the local taxes which the existing population has to pay.
So registered foreign worker will pay his or her fair share of local taxes whether they are here for a short stay or permanent. We must also look seriously at what amounts of money is being sent overseas and by whom. A local export tax should be levied on those foreign workers who send money out of this country,as they are here we are told to contribute to society,so contribute they should.
We need to look at city departments and the need for so many overpaid fatcat directors looking after our interests.Again the very weak and see through excuse used is,you have to pay more to get the best. Do you believe that rubbish. A limit on the maximum you can earn within the upper tier of local Government,we believe a fair figure to be £50,000 per annum,and if you do not like it you know where the door is.
A proper accounting system not bland statements which tells us of the mesmerising sums of money which comes into this city every year only to disappear into the back pockets of the greedy. The city should become the banker in all this. Example if the new year celebrations bring in £40million pounds to the city the bank/city takes a percentage off the top then we all know where we are.A figure of between 10-15% or 4 to 6 million pounds before we take into consideration any other local charges. That means the city coffers are guaranteed at least that amount before we start.
That would be the same with any other jolly the city puts on. Some or all of these methods if put into place would ease the burden on the hard pressed working families of this city,instead of the empty promises they hear instead.Â
Do our rulers have the courage to change and right an obvious wrong. Certainly not this lot.no imagination no guts no sense of what is right and decent,just a mouthful of platitudes of pay up and shut up Â