Reform councils

Christine Jardine (Perspective, 17 September) takes the SNP to task for failing to scrap council tax. My recollection is that a minority SNP administration sought to do that but was baulked by a combination of the other parties. Ms Jardine’s alternative of a landvalue tax shares the main problem with council tax, in that it is not linked to income ie the ability to pay.

As regards the pothole problem she highlights, that reflects spending choices local authorities have made over the years as much as straitened finances now. No bear-

able system of local taxation is going to provide local authorities with the means to meet all of their current responsibilities, and I would suggest the only solution is to relieve them of some.

The prime candidate would be social services. Their bearing on the workings of the NHS is increasingly apparent. Much of the work is outsourced at present and it is an area where a postcode lottery is particularly repellent.

Another service which could readily be centralised is education. The Scottish Government is continually held answerable for all aspects, from curriculum to supply of teachers and provision of schools while providing the necessary funds. There must be savings to be made from scrapping all those local education authorities.

It should be possible to approach a position where local authorities could raise, by a range of measures, funds to pay for whatever services they decide to provide. If nothing else it should put some life into local elections.

S BECK Craigleith Drive, Edinburgh