IRRV Forum Alert - week ending 7th November 2014
Information Letters
News
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Council writes off poll tax debt
Council writes off poll tax debt
As many of you are aware a record number of Scots voted in the recent referendum on independence. To do so many individuals who had not voted previously had to register to vote. Some of those who registered had not paid the 'community charge' or 'poll tax' as it was called.
Unwittingly by registering to vote, local authorities who were due these arrears, now had the opportunity of tracing the defaulters. There was then an intention to initiate the collection machinery.
The SNP government said this was unfair and have said they will pass legislation to the effect that these arrears will have to be written off because it will henceforth be incompetent to try to recover them.
The following related story appeared in www.bbc.co.uk/news on 31st October:
West Dunbartonshire Council has scrapped £8m of unpaid poll tax ahead of Scottish government moves to stop authorities chasing the historic debt.
The council decided to stop collection, which was running about £25,000 a year.
It said ministers planned to compensate councils for outstanding amounts in line with current collection rates.
Moves to stop unpaid poll tax recovery were announced after it emerged councils were using the electoral register to track people down.
West Dunbartonshire Council leader Martin Rooney said: "The poll tax was widely acknowledged as an unjust taxation system that unfairly punished the poor and eased the burden on those with the deepest pockets.
Reimbursement call
"People rightly opposed it and that is why it was abolished so quickly.
"We support the Scottish government's promise to write-off historic poll tax debt, but it also follows that the Scottish government should fund this decision by reimbursing West Dunbartonshire for the loss of income."
Cllr Rooney added: "Tens of thousands of local people paid their taxes and wouldn't want essential council services to suffer from this move."
The poll tax, or community charge as it was officially known, was introduced in Scotland from 1989.
It was hugely unpopular and abolished after only four years in 1993.
The Scottish independence referendum in September prompted a large increase in the number of people registering to vote.
First Minister Alex Salmond said that, more than 20 years since the poll tax came to an end, the expanded electoral roll should not be used to claim those unpaid debts.
It is estimated that historic poll tax debt across Scotland's 32 local authority areas runs to about £425m.
Questions?
If you have any questions or comments on the above then please do contact me using the details below. As always a selection of articles relating to debt recovery and credit control can be found at www.debtscotland.com/news.cfm.
Best regards,
Stephen Cowan
Managing Partner
Yuill + Kyle
Debt recovery + Credit control Lawyers, Scotland
scowan@yuill-kyle.co.uk
W: http://www.debtscotland.com/
T: 0141 331 2332
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