That is all very well and fine in theory, but I suspect that the answer to my question is that if the Minister goes back and says to his colleagues, ““I have got this bright idea of devolving development land tax and landfill tax to local authorities in Scotland””, he will get about 10 boxes full of reasons why this would not be desirable—not least because it would introduce different rates of tax all over the country for people who are involved in housing and other commercial developments. It is hardly in line with the Government's declared policy of simplification of taxation and less onerous regulation.
If I were to table a Question and ask what the Government's policy is on this and why, I am sure that they would come up with a whole load of reasons. My noble friend has said, ““Oh well, it is for the Scottish Parliament to decide””. No, it is not. At the moment this a uniform tax throughout the United Kingdom, as I understand it, and the Government have decided to devolve it to Scotland. In devolving it to Scotland, whether or not it will be circumscribed by a requirement to apply it uniformly is an important point. In considering what the impact might be on Scotland, my noble friend seems far more relaxed than in considering what the impact might be on England. If he says that that is central to the whole devolution idea and that we must trust the Scottish Parliament to use this power in this way, I just say to him that if, as I suspect will happen, the Scottish Parliament does devolve it but does not let the local authorities keep the money, he will find quite a number of English local authorities knocking on his door citing the precedent—and especially so if they decide to allow the local authorities to keep the money.
Rather than just saying, ““Oh well, it is Scotland and devolution and so it must be a good thing to let them decide””, my noble friend might like to think about whether it would sensible to circumscribe this in some way. However, having discussed the matter, I am happy to withdraw my amendment.
Amendment 58A withdrawn.
Amendment 58B not moved.
Clause 33 agreed.
Clause 34 agreed.
Clause 35 : Scottish tax on disposals to landfill
Clause 35 : Scottish tax on disposals to landfill
Amendment 58C not moved.
Clause 35 agreed.
Clause 36 agreed.
Amendment 59
Moved by
Scotland Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Lord Forsyth of Drumlean
(Conservative)
in the House of Lords on Thursday, 15 March 2012.
It occurred during Committee of the Whole House (HL)
and
Debate on bills on Scotland Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
736 c480-1 
Session
2010-12
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2023-12-15 18:16:29 +0000
URI
http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_818508
In Indexing
http://indexing.parliament.uk/Content/Edit/1?uri=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_818508
In Solr
https://search.parliament.uk/claw/solr/?id=http://data.parliament.uk/pimsdata/hansard/CONTRIBUTION_818508