Holyrood approves end of poll tax debt collection

The bill to end the collection of historic community charge (poll tax) debts has been finally approved by the Scottish Parliament.

MSPs passed by 98 votes to 15 the Community Charge Debt (Scotland) Bill at stage 3, which ends the liability to pay arrears of the charge in Scotland as from 1 February 2015. 

Conservative members opposed the bill, which was promoted by the Scottish Government following reports that local authorities were tracing debtors through voter registrations for the independence referendum.

A lump sum has been allocated which is intended to compensate councils for revenue they would otherwise have collected.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “The Scottish Government has acted act expeditiously to address the use of information gathered from voter registration to pursue historical debts from a tax that is discredited and which has not been operational in Scotland for more than 20 years.

“People should not fear being on the electoral registers because of decades-old community charge debts."