Major supermarkets are now the "barons of politics", according to First Minister Alex Salmond, who was speaking after MSPs voted down plans to introduce a so-called "Tesco tax".

The levy would have brought in an extra £30m a year - with £23m of that from the largest supermarket chains.

But Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories branded the plan "anti-competitive".

The retailer Sainsbury's would have paid £2.5m more a year, the equivalent of its hourly profit, Mr Salmond said.

"And yet they moaned about having to pay the additional sum to help everyone in difficult circumstances," he told BBC Five Live.

When asked why opposition parties - other than the Greens - did not support the proposal, Mr Salmond said: "The supermarkets have the most enormous lobbying power.

"I think they are the barons of politics."

The plan - which Mr Salmond said was about rebalancing the relationship between out-of-town shopping centres and small, independent town centre retailers - was voted down on Wednesday, by 68 votes to 46.
'Broadest shoulders'

But the first minister hinted it would be included in the SNP's manifesto ahead of the Scottish elections in May.

"We can't get it through this parliament, but I think it'd be a fair assumption to say it's something that we'll take to the people," he said.

"Like the referendum on independence, we'll see if there's popular support for the idea that those with the broadest shoulders bear a little more of the burden when times are tough."

Fiona Moriarty, the director of the Scottish Retail Consortium, which represents the big four supermarkets, last month told a committee of MSPs that small businesses needed larger ones to survive.

She added: "It's not our job as a sector to come up with solutions for budgetary shortfalls."

The proposal was however supported by the Federation of Small Businesses.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12376779

They might have ridiculous lobbying power, but that says more about scumbag politicians and the system than anything else, and this proposal would be even less likely if said scumbags made sure the companies weren't re-routing their profits

Dear God, Alex Salmon is the most opportunist, self-serving, jump-on-every-passing-bandwagon politician I think I've ever seen in British politics.

Maybe so, but such a tax would raise money from those that can afford it.

The only people "paying" would be the ordinary Scots who use those supermarkets.

Yes but they could also switch to other small supermarkets.

Not really. In many towns in Scotland there is only one supermarket so they have a large captive consumer base.

Raise their tax load and they'll simply raise their prices to compensate.

Yes but this tax is only equivalent to one hour of the shops profits. It is hardly punitive. Imagine if it were one hours pay for you that you had to pay out?

I agree with you.

However we're talking about über-capitalists here and there's no way they'll allow the loss of even a penny.

Yes but if they do try and get away from the tax buy shutting up shop it leaves local markets unfilled and allows smaller chains to fill in the gap.

The big supermarkets will just add the cost to the price of food. Maybe move more back office staff out of Scotland and pay those that are in Scotland less. All the time pointing the finger at Hollyrood and saying "they caused this, blame them".

People moan and bitch like crazy, saying "ooh those big supermarkets are ruining the high street and destroying the area". whilst going to those same big supermarkets saying "ooh those high street shops are too expensive".

The big supermarkets already have their HQ's in London. The buyers are there the admin is there and they have their centralised warehouses around the country. Sainsbury's had one near Worcester and the other near Luton. Those covered the entire country. Not sure where Tesco's are but they will not have that many more around the country. Also if it came out that the chains penalised its staff that way with pay cuts and job losses to pay for this tiny tax you would see a much larger boycott of the chain and that will cost them considerably more than the tax. So it would be rather pyrrhic to engage in.

Tecos bank is situated in Scotland with 600 staff.
Sainsbury also have a presence in Scotland ( a regional depot)
These can be moved to England to avoid a tax liability from scotland and also put Scottish people out of work. Meaning a double whammy for the Scottish executive.
As for people boycotting of the big chains. Is that like the boycotts that happen around the country that mean sweet FA. As people still shop at the cheapest place.

the big supermarkets/companies have won the war
whats needed is a revolution and that is not going to happen, yet ...

But the bank is not effected, neither is the ware house. It will be a tax on the shops. As for boycotts they are still effective. After all a bank run is just a boycott of a form. Pickets outside Tesco stores would not look good.

It may be a tax on the shops but the two examples are just two out of many that can be easily located elswhere at enormous cost to the Scots but next to nothing to the big chains.
As for boycotts being effective.. It hasnt destroyed Barclays (apartheid), Shell (human rights/explotation), Vodaphone/next (tax avoidance), any of the big supermarket chains (explotation of farmers/unethical pricing/destruction of the high street). All they do is cause a momentary PR problem which is "fixed".
This idea of a levy is just another "populist" proposal that does nothing and will solve nothing if it ever became a reality.