Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said he supports free benefits for all regardless of income - despite a claim by a leading Labour councillor that proponents of universal services are "behind the times".
Labour councillor David O'Neill, president of council umbrella body Cosla, said universal benefits like free bus passes, free prescriptions and free university tuition are popular but "unfit for purpose and unaffordable".
His speech to Cosla's conference in Crieff, Perth and Kinross, today had echoes of former Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont's attack on Scotland's "something for nothing" culture - her own attempt to spark a debate on universal services shortly before she resigned last year.
But Mr Murphy set himself firmly against Mr O'Neill and Ms Lamont in his own speech to Cosla, saying rich people who pay the taxes that fund benefits should get "something for something".
He said: "My predecessor made a speech about ending the 'something for nothing' society and moving to targeting some of these payments.
"I don't share that view. You should get something for something. If you have paid in, you should get something back.
"If we're going to ask the most prosperous to pay higher taxes to pay for some of the social disadvantage that we have in this country, I think those people who are wealthy and have paid in should also get something back themselves.
"So, I believe in something for something and I defend that idea of universalism.
"People at the top should also get something back, so I disagree with my predecessor as Scottish Labour Party leader and I will protect that universalism."
Mr Murphy confirmed that UK Labour will raise taxes on the 16,000 Scots who earn more than £150,000 a year and acknowledged that many of them live in his own East Renfrewshire constituency.
The affluent area was formerly the Conservatives' safest seat in Scotland until Mr Murphy unexpectedly ousted the Tories in the Labour landslide of 1997.
"I know it's not popular but I am going to say it - we will raise taxes," he said.
"I think it is right that anyone earning more than £150,000 - who disproportionately live in my constituency - should be asked to pay a little more to try and drive out the educational disadvantage that is still too prevalent in our country."
He confirmed that he will use the money to double classroom assistants in feeder primaries for under-performing secondary schools, which will in turn be transformed into community learning hubs for both child and adult learning.
In his speech to Cosla, Councillor O'Neill said: "People often say to me, 'I have a bus pass but I don't need it'. I often hear, 'I get free prescriptions but I don't need them'.
"We have all heard the comments from people who can afford to pay something towards their son or daughter's continued university education.
"A common theme in these remarks is that they recognise a world where there are not enough resources to do everything and that money released in this way could be put to better use.
"Universality may seem popular but it seems to me that those who propose it are behind the times."
He said the current model of public-service delivery is "unfit for purpose and unaffordable".
Public bodies should instead empower "individuals, families and communities (that) have a massive capacity to look after themselves and each other".
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