By Steve Bargeton, political editor

MSPS YESTERDAY threw out a plan to scrap the council tax and replace it with some form of income tax.

Last week the SNP became the first party to produce a fully-costed income tax which, it claimed, would slash payments for thousands of pensioners and lower paid workers.

Leading a Scottish Socialist debate yesterday, party leader Tommy Sheridan called on those parties to unite around his simple motion calling for an end to the property-based tax.

He claimed the tax had been introduced by the last Conservative government as a “knee-jerk reaction to save their skins” following the poll tax rebellion in Scotland.

“Ten years on we have a tax which pampers the well-paid and the wealthy, but punishes the pensioner household and the ordinary worker.

“We have the reality that the company director on a hundred times more income than one of his employees will pay only a maximum of three times more in council tax,” he said.

“We have the reality that millions of households across Scotland, particularly pensioner households but also the working households, can hardly now afford to pay their rising council tax bills.”

At First Minister’s questions, Jack McConnell attacked the SNP’s income tax proposals, which he said were “badly thought out.”

Responding to questions from SNP leader John Swinney, he said, “I have made clear in this chamber before, and I make clear again today, that my personal view is there is a role for property taxation in any democracy where we want to have progressive taxation systems.

“That is not a view shared by all parties but I hope it’s a view that is honestly expressed.

“Mr Swinney, your party published proposals last Friday that do not stand the test of scrutiny.”

Mr McConnell has promised a review of local taxation, but would only say yesterday that it will take place some time during the life of this parliament—before 2007.

“Isn’t it the case that what we now know about the independent review of local government finance is that it’s not an independent process?” said Mr Swinney.

“Isn’t it the case that this review is not independent—it’s simply a political fix to allow the Liberal Democrats to dump their principles and to allow the Labour party to dump the agenda of fairness in Scotland?”

The First Minister said he was happy to debate systems of local government finance.

“I am also happy to criticise what I think are badly thought-out proposals—not because they are an alternative system, but because I don’t believe that the calculations have been done properly or that they take full account of the costs,” he said.

“And I think that they are flawed, in an attempt to be populist. I hope they have failed.”

MSPs voted by 88 to 33 to back an independent review of local taxation.