Time for a rethink on funding our councils
IT’S hardly surprising that Scottish councils want the power to raise their own taxes. After all, under the SNP Government at Holyrood, local authority budgets have been sliced then sliced again.
And every penny cut has been translated into a reduction in services. Over 13 years, the effect has been devastating.
The frontline services on which we all depend – from education to bin collections – are delivered by councils. And we have all seen how these services have been eroded.
Cosla – the umbrella body for Scotland’s councils – is drawing up a new funding model for local government that would see authorities raise their own local taxes. Some of this money could come from ‘addons’ to existing national taxes such as VAT, while a further portion could be raised by the introduction of new levies, comparable to controversial parking and tourist taxes.
Since 2014, total revenue funding for local authorities has fallen by 6 per cent in real terms. While Government ministers continued to make big promises in terms of policy, the local authorities tasked with delivery were undermined, year after year.
But, while the desire of councils to have the right to raise taxes might be understandable, the vast majority of Scots would baulk at such a move. They are already the most taxed workers in the UK, with even those on comparatively modest wages paying more each month than they would if they lived in England. The last thing working families need is a further drain on their incomes.
No, rather than picking the pockets of hard workers, the Scottish Government must rethink local authority funding.
Westminster has increased the block grant to Holyrood, giving ministers more money to play with. It is up to recently promoted Finance Secretary Kate Forbes to ensure some of that cash finds its way into local council coffers.
Councils, too, have a part to play. Complaints about funding cuts are somewhat undermined by the existence of battalions of senior council officials on bloated fat cat salaries.