I was disappointed but not surprised
to hear that the SNP Government is to prevent councils from recovering
outstanding community charge debts. This move is unfair to those Scots who paid
the community charge in good faith, subsidising those who could afford to pay
but chose not to. Nobody likes paying
taxes but in a democracy we observe the law and recognise our social responsibility
in helping to pay for public services. Writing of these debts sends out completely
the wrong message; in Dundee we have one of the lowest in year council tax
collection rates in Scotland and this move by the SNP is unlikely to do anything
to improve our position.
I checked with Dundee City Council’s
finance officers about how much community charge remains outstanding in Dundee
and I was told that as at the 31st March of this year it was £1.81m. Despite
Alex Salmond’s contention that a very small sum is recouped each year, in
Dundee in the last financial year £56,975 was recovered, which is not an insignificant
amount of money.
