THE Scottish Greens will tomorrow push the SNP to start work by the summer on abolishing the council tax as the price of support in next year’s budget.

The party, which has already made ending the tax a red line for the 2019-20 budget, will use its debating time to force a vote on the issue.

The Greens will put the government on the spot by asking it to agree to scrap the tax and convene a cross-party group to devise a fairer replacement before summer.

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The Greens have been critical to the SNP passing its first two budgets since Nicola Sturgeon lost her majority in 2016, and have already helped drive changes to the income tax system.

They want a new annual residential property tax of around 1 per cent of a house’s value.

A hasty replacement for the poll tax, the council tax is based on actual and estimated 1991 property values, and is widely regarded as regressive, despite recent changes in Scotland.

Green MSP Andy Wightman said: “The public are being penalised with an outdated, unfair system under which most households are paying the wrong amount.

“Successive Scottish Governments have ducked this issue but with a parliament of minorities, we have a chance to build on the agreement struck during the 2015 cross-party Commission on Local Tax Reform that the present Council Tax system must end.

"In the same way that Green pressure has resulted in a shift toward a fairer system of income tax, with lower earners paying less and higher earners paying more, we must see a shift in local tax so we have a fairer system that gives local authorities flexibility to raise the funds they need for local services. I hope other parties agree that after years of talking, it's deeds not words that count, and we must see movement on this issue before the Summer."

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Tory MSP Alexander Stewart said: “When the Greens call for a ‘fairer’ tax system, we all know what that means. They want to punish hard workers across the country.

“Even those on modest salaries, or living in very normal homes in certain parts of the country, would be hammered if this went through.

“Taxpayers in Scotland will be hoping the Greens’ cosy relationship with the SNP, which has already seen two budgets go through, won’t lead to these madcap changes too.”

Labour finance spokesman James Kelly MSP added: “After a decade of broken promises, the SNP can’t be trusted on council tax reform. Scottish Labour has radical plans to properly fund local services and we want councils to have more say over this. That’s why we support councils having the choice to raise income in different ways including a tax on vacant land and a levy on tourists, which works well across Europe."

A LibDem spokesperson added: "The Greens said previous SNP proposals 'violated international law'. But on 3rd November 2016 they wimped out and voted with the SNP. Their action stopped tax reform. People will be rightly suspicious that the Greens will ever be the champions of radical reform."

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Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said the government was committed to making local taxation “more progressive” and was “open to further dialogue” on options for reform.

However he did not endorse the specific Green plan.

He said: “We have launched a Local Governance Review, which will make sure communities have more say about how public services in their area are run.

“A transformation of local democracy can be best achieved by looking at how public services work with each other and inviting communities to identify the powers and resources they need to thrive.

“We have also made council tax fairer and included a 25% increase to the child allowance in the reforms that were introduced last year. In addition, the Scottish Land Commission is researching Land Value Tax in the wider context of Land Reform.”