Triple tax hike by Holyrood needed now, says Labour hopeful Leonard
A SCOTTISH Labour leadership candidate yesterday issued a triple tax rise warning to voters only days before party members cast their ballot.
Richard Leonard said ‘now is the time’ for ministers at Holyrood to use their power to vary tax rates and proposed changes to income, council and business taxes.
Making a last-ditch attempt to win party support as voting opens this week, he claimed a ‘once in a generation’ debate on tax should be held.
In a speech to supporters, the Central Scotland MSP also said he was the best candidate to bring ‘unity’ to the party north of the Border – and declared his ambition to be the next First Minister.
However, he insisted difficult decisions must be made on tax in an attempt to boost funding for the NHS and other public services. He said all types of tax should be looked at including targeting hardworking families, businesses and home owners.
‘I think once in a generation there needs to be a debate about the kind of society we want to build, the level of public services universally available and comprehensively provided that we want to see – and it’s got to be paid for,’ he said.
‘We’ve had a Scottish parliament now since 1999. The truth of the matter is we’ve never exercised the power to vary taxation on anything like the scale I think some people may have envisaged. Now is the time, in the teeth of austerity, to have that debate.’
Mr Leonard said he would ‘lean towards’ the policy put forward by Scottish Labour ahead of last year’s Holyrood election, rather than the one produced by Jeremy Corbyn in the summer.
The 2016 proposal argued that the basic and higher rates of income tax should be increased by 1p while ensuring nobody earning under £20,000 a year paid any more.
During this year’s General Election campaign Mr Corbyn proposed reintroducing the 50p rate of tax on those earn gap ing £123,000 and above, as well a rate of 45p for those making £80,000 or more.
Mr Leonard said: ‘The Scottish manifesto proposal was based on the fiscal realities we face in Scotland, which is that there aren’t so many high wealth individuals in Scotland. If we are seriously going to tackle the huge austerity that we face, then it will require us to consider basic rates of taxation as well as top rates of taxation.
‘We are now in a period in the parliament’s history where we have more flexibility than ever to have a more progressive form of taxation, to look at rates and allowances, to look at gradations of rates.’
Mr Leonard – who also said that despite being a Remain campaigner he believes the UK must pursue Brexit – is running against MSP Anas Sarwar to lead Scottish Labour after Kezia Dugdale’s resignation in August.
Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said Mr Leonard’s tax ideas would simply ‘punish hard-working people’, adding: ‘This is a glimpse of what would happen to Scotland if Labour were allowed anywhere near power again.’
Last night, Mr Sarwar said: ‘This was a speech with nothing new from Richard Leonard.’
‘Tackle huge austerity gap’