'Glaswegians are sick and tired of paying more to get less in return'

Glasgow Times

30-06-2025

Perhaps Mr Franklin could also see into the future where left-wing Scottish and UK governments under the SNP and Labour have gone out of their way to ensure that more and more of our hard-earned money ends up in their pockets and not our own.
In Scotland, we are taxed at a UK level but also let's not forget that the devolved parliament at Holyrood has chosen to exercise its tax powers many times.
Unsurprisingly, this has led to a situation in which ordinary hard-working Scots are taxed at a higher level than others in the UK.
I'm not talking about millionaires.
This income tax gap between Scots and their counterparts south of the border is hitting people like retail managers, tradespeople, police officers, nurses and teachers; all of whom, and more, are taxed more than their colleagues in England.
It is for the Scottish people to decide at next year's Holyrood elections if they are happy with this situation, though, in as far as I see, this extra taxation hasn't resulted in any improvement in public services such as education or health.
Glaswegians are sick and tired of paying more to get less in return.
I mention this as a segue into the explanation for my vote in favour of a visitor levy tax in Glasgow at last week's City Administration Committee.
As a Conservative, I don't like to vote for increases in taxes or, just as bad, the introduction of new ones.
However, we have a situation in Scotland where the woeful SNP administration, now nearly two decades old nationally and almost a decade in power here in Glasgow, has taxed hard-working Glaswegians to pip squeaking proportions, while at the same time delivering sub-par services and a city that looks dirty and unloved.
Only in February did the same SNP in cahoots with their far-left Green colleagues increase council tax by an eye-watering 7.5%.
The SNP government, in an attempt to mitigate their own raiding of local authority funding to pay for giveaways, has allowed such council tax increases but also has given councils powers to raise more funding of their own in order to pay for services.
The Visitor Levy is one such scheme, allowing accommodation providers to charge a 5% tax on rooms to those choosing Glasgow as a destination, with the added bonus (for local authorities at least) that the provider will be responsible for the collection and administration of this levy.
My concern has always been that already hard-pressed residents would not find themselves burdened by further taxation.
The LEZ (Low Emission Zone) is proving to be a bit of a pot of gold for this administration, with the promise of a congestion charge to come.
So, it seemed not unreasonable that visitors to Glasgow should pay a contribution to the amenities they enjoy while here.
I received assurances that small businesses would be helped with administration difficulties, and the promise that they would be able to hold on to 1.5% of the take to help cover costs (something the anti-business Greens wanted to remove after a period).
This satisfied me that the "hit" to local businesses, particularly those running small B&Bs as well as Airbnb providers, would not be significant enough to cause harm to their long-term futures with the policy being constantly reviewed.
Opportunists like Reform UK will promise Glaswegians the world but they do not have a plan about how to pay for it.
To Glasgow Conservatives like me, who live in the real world, the lesser of two evils was to vote for a levy on visitors, following the path of cities around the UK and the world.
That way I hope we can minimise some of the damage the SNP have done to our local services and protect the wallets of already way overtaxed Glaswegians.