Sir, The declared intention by the Scottish Government to legislate to prevent councils continuing to lawfully pursue those who did not pay the poll tax is, quite simply, disgraceful, and a kick in the teeth for all those who pay their taxes.
The SNP very loudly encouraged people to register to vote, no doubt assuming that the Yes campaign would benefit. Accordingly many poll tax defaulters did register on the electoral roll, and as a result council investigators, quite rightly, sought to maximise their unforeseen opportunity to push ahead with efforts to collect the outstanding tax.
So, in order, to ensure that their supporters do not suffer from finally coming out of the woodwork and going onto the electoral roll, Alex Salmond and his crew have brought the centralised, Edinburgh-based, governmental fist down on local councils.
This has probably been done in the hope that those who do still owe poll tax will stay on the roll and vote SNP in the forthcoming UK and Scottish Parliamentary elections.
Remember, this is the same SNP Government which, in the run-up to the referendum vote, accused Better Together politicians of sleight of hand and of attempting to “bribe” the electorate.
You have declared your intention to go Mr Salmond. Make it sooner rather than later, please, before you inflict any more of your double standards upon us.
James Shaw. Dundee.
Stop paying council tax?
Sir, So, all the law-abiding, hard-working and honest people who paid their poll tax, regardless of whether they agreed with it or not, or even if they had difficulty paying it, should have not paid it and just sat back and waited for the Scottish Government to write off the debt.
I wonder what would happen if we all stopped paying our council tax because we don’t like how our council wastes our money? Would we all be forgiven in 20 years’ time?
If the Scottish Government do go ahead as suggested, and writes off these poll tax debts it is obscene and makes a mockery of our laws.
The SNP were elected because they were a competent government first time around, as many voters thought. This action will turn everything that is good about this Scottish Government on its head, and it looks like we really are going to turn into a banana state, oops, nearly said republic.
Derek H Shaw. The Logan, Liff, Dundee.
Why are poor main targets?
Sir, The Office for National Statistics has found that “Britain’s richest 1% have as much wealth as the poorest 55% of the population put together”, and the gap is widening. So how come the poor are the main targets of the austerity cuts?
Les Mackay. 5 Carmichael Gardens, Dundee.
Restaurant closures
Sir, With reference to the recent article on restaurant closures (Double closure blow, October 2), in which Tim Allan, the president of the Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, stated that he cannot remember the last time a restaurant closed in Dundee, what about Bon Appetit in Exchange Street and The Tasting Rooms in Whitehall Crescent?
They both closed this year, albeit they have reopened as new restaurant businesses.
I also felt The Courier’s comment about the Blue Marlin owners perhaps wishing they had stayed in Monifieth a bit harsh. Who could have foreseen the circumstances that they were faced with when they decided to move to larger premises?
I thought The Courier encouraged entrepreneurs?
I have no connection directly or indirectly with either of the two restaurants concerned.
Alf Small. 8 Claypotts Terrace, Dundee.
Always having a go at Gordon
Sir, I notice that the Very Rev Dr Cameron seems to have an obsession with having a pop at Gordon Brown at every opportunity and I wonder why?
Mr Brown’s father was a Church of Scotland minster as was the Rev Cameron (no relation to David, then?). Could there have been some bad blood between these two kirk ministers in the distant past that makes the Rev John determined to denigrate the offspring of a fine father of the manse?
And speaking of the other Mr Cameron David he says that he is cutting the taxes of some 30 million British people just shortly.
Odd, but I was unaware there were 30 million online retailers and coffee shop chains in the UK.
Ken MacDougall. 3 Logie Avenue, Dundee.
Area Festival of Remembrance
Sir, May I remind your readers of the Royal British Legion Scotland’s Angus and Perthshire Area Festival of Remembrance in the Caird Hall, Dundee, on Saturday November 1?
This is a special year, as the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, giving us an opportunity to recall with pride and sadness those who lost their lives in that conflict and others since.
The programme features the Central Band of The Royal British Legion Scotland, the legion’s Arbroath Branch Pipe Band and an ecumenical Act of Remembrance.
Col ADF Maclean TD. Press Officer, Angus and Perthshire Area Festival of Remembrance.