Scotland's Duty to its Senior Citizens

As an amendment to motion S2M-04901 in the name of Miss Annabel Goldie (Scotland's Duty to its Senior Citizens), leave out from “and that they” to end and insert “believes that Scotland’s primary duty to its senior citizens is to lift them out of the poverty and deprivation that so many endure and that the effect of Conservative policies of the 1980s and 1990s, in particular the introduction of the hated council tax and the abandonment of the link between pensions increases and the increase in average earnings, has meant that their standard of living has significantly fallen; therefore calls for the abolition of the council tax, under which many pensioners pay up to 25% of their overall income on one bill, and its replacement with a system based on ability to pay, where the poor and low-paid are exempt and the tax obligation increases as income increases, and further believes that the restoration of the link between average earnings and pensions would ensure that Scotland’s senior citizens do not continue to fall behind the rest of the population and secure the right to live in dignity in retirement.”