SNP’s Kenny MacAskill asked to apologise over poll tax tweet

At the end of last week, SNP MSP and Scottish Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill took to Twitter to vent his frustration that off the back of high levels of voter registration for the Scottish Referendum (which saw 97% of people over the age of 16 registering to vote) the electoral register is now being used to chase down unpaid bills from the historic poll tax.

However, in doing so, he compared this move to the poll tax in post-civil war America. The law, introduced in eleven southern states (formerly part of the Confederacy), meant that people were only eligible to vote if they had paid this tax. This tax, alongside the introduction of literacy tests before voting and more general physical intimidation, was part of an effort to disenfranchise African Americans.

There has rightly been outrage in response to this comparison; the struggles of African Americans as part of the civil rights movement, rooted in a history of slavery and oppression, is in no way similar to cross-checking the electoral register with a list of people who have not paid their taxes.

What’s more, on Thursday, Alex Salmond said the Scottish Government would introduce legislation to prevent councils from the electoral register as a way to recoup unpaid debts.

An SNP spokesperson explained that “Mr MacAskill wasn’t making a comparison between the two situations, and would obviously never do so.” But the Tweet above looks a lot like a comparison to us…