SCOTLAND'S left alliance Rise will promise to introduce a higher income tax rate for the most wealthy one per cent of Scots in its first election campaign to win seats at Holyrood.
The pledge will involve raising the top rate of for those earning more than £150,000 a year from 45p to 60p and will be an attempt to rebalance the economy which they say is “rigged in favour of the rich”.
Full details of the policy will be unveiled in a pre-manifesto report to be published within the next few weeks but preliminary research by the group suggests it would raise an extra £100m a year in revenue.
Part of the extra public money would be spent on a new Economic Justice Fund to provide financial help to benefit claimants who had been sanctioned in a bid to eradicate food poverty and also on specialist tax inspectors tasked with cracking down on rich tax dodgers.
“Britain’s economy is rigged in favour of the rich, but massively unequal societies are dysfunctional.
“A higher rate of tax on the rich will help reduce inequality in Scotland, and help build an economy that serves working class Scots, not just a wealthy minority at the top,” a Rise spokesman told The National.
“We’ll spend a portion of the additional revenue on a specialist team of Revenue Scotland tax inspectors dedicated to making elite tax avoiders and evaders pay their share.”
Scottish Labour said last year it would introduce a 50p top rate of tax for those earning more than £150,000 and use the additional revenue to establish a Fair Start fund in schools to support children from poorer backgrounds.
Both the Rise and Labour policies, however, depend on a fiscal framework accompanying the Scotland Bill being agreed between the Scottish and UK Governments.
Under the Bill, the Scottish Parliament will be given the power to set rates and bands of income tax from April 2017, keep half of all VAT receipts, and be given the ability to top up welfare benefits and create new payments.
Rise is planning to run campaigns in all eight of the country’s regions in a bid to get seats via the proportional representation list.
Activist Cat Boyd, co-founder of the Radical Independence campaign, and a columnist for The National, and the former Scottish Socialist Party MSP Colin Fox and Jean Urquhart, current Independent MSP for the Highlands and Islands are among its lead candidates. They will not be fielding candidates in constituency seats.
Rise’s policies include the abolition of council tax in favour of a Scottish services’ tax that is income based, the abolition of charitable status for private schools and also supports an independent Scotland cutting all links with the monarchy.
Rise grew out of grassroots support for the Yes campaign in the independence referendum and its name is an acronym standing for Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism and it regards itself as committed to green and socialist principles. The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is affiliated to the alliance, but retains autonomy.
It is likely to face competition on the list from the SNP and the Scottish Greens, but is also campaigning to pick up votes from former Labour supporters.
A Scottish Greens spokesman said: “A strong group of Green MSPs will use the powers coming to the next session of parliament to work for a shift from taxation on labour to taxing wealth, in essence, a more progressive system of taxation which focuses on ability to pay.”
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