The Carrickfergus Councillor said: “Robert McCartney’s comments on rates are unhelpful and inadvisable. The best way to get rid of this disgraceful wealth tax is to get devolution up and running again so that we can implement a fairer scheme, and Robert McCartney should be concentrating on helping get the Assembly working again.
“This rates hike is totally unacceptable. Alliance proposes an income-based tax which would be a much fairer system. A scheme based on the ability to pay is required to ensure that we can scrap these unjust rates rises.
“Also, through ending segregation we can save £1 billion every year in Northern Ireland. Segregation means the unnecessary duplication of facilities in our education, health and social services. The £1 billion saving could be used to ensure that there is no need for rates hikes.”
ENDS