Letter: Bias to blame for rates hike problem

RE YOUR story in the Business section "Shock business rates hike sparks mass protest" (11 July).

This situation, and the lack of public or political interest in addressing it, is a result of the deliberate structural biases built into the tax and voting systems for local government, especially in the 1940s and the 1960s.

After all, what do you expect if you purposely load a sizeable proportion of the local taxes on to groups who are denied a vote for the council, while at the same time ensuring that significant numbers of voters for that council don't have to pay for what it provides?

The answer: a permanent electoral skew that punishes politicians who are concerned about tax levels and value for money and rewards those whose modus operandi is to promise lots of freebies for the populace at someone else's expense. What you get, in a nutshell, is municipal Scotland.

John Kenyon, via e-mail

"NO taxation without representation" was the rallying cry for Americans breaking free of British colonialism, but the phrase has a resonance for Scottish voters. The desires of Scots voters have been silenced by the deal done with the SNP minority government to freeze council taxes, whatever the impact on services. Such an agreement has left Scotland with a glaring democratic deficit when it comes to local government.

No wonder businesses are outraged at being asked to make up the shortfall in funds. But they should beware encouraging a decimation of public sector staff and services. If the jobless figure is allowed to climb too high, private business will be crippled as everybody tightens their belts.

bfarquhar, via e-mail