‘Creating a Just Scotland’: tax and land reform

Joyce Taylor-Richards reports on an event offering radical solutions

Scottish Quakers, through the Parliamentary Liaison Function Group, held a symposium on 29 October on the subject of tax and land reform. At 10 o’clock on a Saturday morning it was a surprise and a joy to see that the hall was packed with over 180 people wanting to hear about and discuss ways we can create a fairer Scotland. There were about forty Quakers in the audience, including several Britain Yearly Meeting staff members. Such was the crowd that the symposium had to be relayed to the adjoining book fair so that everyone who wanted could hear the proceedings. Three excellent speakers – Lesley Riddoch, journalist and broadcaster; Richard Murphy, tax campaigner and Quaker; and Andy Wightman, a writer on land reform and a Green MSP – came from different perspectives to give compelling arguments about how we create a fairer society.

Lesley Riddoch focused on how we can learn from Nordic countries, where tax is more connected to community. Government collects tax from corporations and VAT, but income tax is raised and spent locally, which means citizens have greater trust in the system and that it is serving their interests. This results in greater social cohesion and lower tolerance of tax avoidance. Provision of services is a public responsibility, care homes and child care provision are well resourced and energy provision is by local companies. Scotland could learn from these models to connect and involve citizens in tax-raising and improve trust in local decision-making.

Richard Murphy extolled the virtues of tax. He said that there is a need to change the narrative in Britain, where tax is often considered something to be avoided and many are involved in finding ways to minimise their liability. To him it is a privilege to pay tax and we should all be emphasising the ways taxes enhance society and advocating this as widely as we can in discussions and on radio phone-ins. He talked about his campaign against tax cheats and promoting the Fair Tax Mark as a way to encourage companies to stop tax avoidance.

Andy Wightman pointed out that the advantage of land is that it does not move and cannot be hidden in tax havens. The law relating to land ownership was established by landowners themselves in their interests. However, how land is owned, used and governed is vital to the prosperity of everyone in the country. It is a finite resource and should be used in the public interest. Some of the reforms he advocated were about stopping the hoarding of land by large companies, taxing the rise in land value when planning permissions are granted, taxing empty industrial properties and taxing landowners for the use of land and infrastructure which they enjoy at public expense.

Questions followed and the large audience remained engaged and attentive throughout this two-hour event. We were left with ideas and questions about what we can do as individuals and how Quakers can engage. In Scotland the Scottish National Party (SNP) does not have an overall majority – so engaging with all political parties can mean that issues get taken up through building a coalition. Is Scotland a small enough nation where radical tax and land reforms could happen? Could Scotland be a test bed for such reforms for the whole of the UK?

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