The Times Online reports that David Hartnett, head of Revenue and Customs, is to write to Scotland's top civil servant saying that there is no legal basis for a local tax and that the Revenue would refuse to collect it.

The letter to Sir John Elvidge, Permanent Secretary at the Scottish Government, will apparently state:

"[T]here is no legal basis for a local income tax along the lines outlined in the SNP consultation document."

"Your proposal for a tax where the rate was set by the Executive and the proposed tax was collected and administered by HMRC is a reserved matter under The Scotland Act 1998, and therefore a matter for the UK Government."

"HMRC does not have the power to collect or administer a local income tax: its role in relation to the devolved administration is confined to administering the Scottish Variable Rate,"

According to The Times, the letter puts pressure on SNP ministers to concede to demands by the Scottish Liberal Democrats to allow all 32 local authorities to set their own local rate.

A spokesperson for the Scottish Government is quoted as saying: "It's still arrant nonsense. Scrapping the unfair council tax and introducing a fair local income tax based on ability to pay is a matter for the Scottish Parliament to determine not for the Treasury to dictate from London. This latest intervention is constitutionally confused and politically inept. The Scottish Government and Parliament is not a Whitehall department which can be bullied by the Treasury. We represent a country, and we have every right and ability to scrap the council tax and replace it with a local income tax."

It may be illegal, but we should probably just press on ahead regardless, eh?

Labels: News, Scottish Government, Tax

So, other than Gavin Henson's return to first team rugby with the Ospreys, what else has caught my eye today?

Well, Mark Irvine of Action 4 Equality has discovered that the cost to Glasgow City Council of all the "independent" lawyers advising equal pay claimants on their compromise agreements back in 2005 was a hefty £347,477.76 - quite a pay packet. Fortunately, the Council made doubly sure that they were paying the female lawyers the same rate as their male colleagues.

I also came across an equal pay campaign initiated by the Conservative party (sic) which reveals that over a lifetime the cost of being female in lost wages alone is £300,000! (And that's before you add in the price of killer heels and matching handbag for the interview.) The campaign's slogan, "Women - Like men, only cheaper." is a good one in that it's not at all open to misinterpretation or innuendo.

Labels: Discrimination, Employment Law, Glasgow, Tax

The High Court has ruled that Pringles are not potato crisps. The delicious and addictive snacks are only 42 per cent potato and the judge decided that they were not therefore "wholly, or substantially wholly, made from the potato."

The importance of this is that, as a result, Pringles are zero-rated for Value Added Tax - and thus cheaper. Hurrah!

NB: the Pringle is in the shape of a hyperbolic paraboloid. Now you know.

Labels: News, Tax