Council tax up 21% in 4 years under the SNP
‘Visits by sheriff officers’
COUNCIL tax bills have soared by more than a fifth since ministers ended the freeze and revamped rates and bands.
The average family will pay 21 per cent more next month than they were paying only four years ago, research indicates.
It follows the decision to end the freeze and to shake up rates and bands, which hit those with modest and larger homes hardest.
The 21 per cent rise means that around £240 will have been added to average bills since 2016/17.
This is in addition to ministers forcing Scots earning more than £27,000 a year to pay the highest income tax rates in the UK, introducing a 4 per cent tax on second homes and imposing punishing property tax rises on owners of larger properties.
Graham Simpson, housing spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘Family finances are being squeezed by the SNP. Councils have been left with no choice but to increase council tax because of years of underfunding by the SNP.
‘It’s no surprise we now have people living in council tax poverty and that this has become Citizens Advice Scotland’s number one debt issue.’
He added: ‘Families are racking up thousands of pounds of debt, leading to rising stress and visits by sheriff officers. This is the human cost of the SNP’s mismanagement of public services.’
When it came to power in 2007, the SNP committed to freezing council tax rates. This ended in 2017, when it capped rises at a maximum of 3 per cent, then changed this to a maximum of 3 per cent plus inflation.
Ministers also introduced reforms in 2017 that added £106- £517 to the annual bills of those in band E-H properties.
Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) figures estimate a 21 per cent rise in council tax revenue between 2016-17 and 2020-21.
From the beginning of next month, 20 of the country’s 32 councils will impose the maximum 4.84 per cent council tax rise, another eight will increase bills by between 3.95 per cent and 4.8 per cent, and four will add 3 per cent to bills.
The Scottish Government’s own figures suggest the average band D bill has risen from £1,149 in 2016/17 to £1,251 now. A 4.84 per cent rise would take that to £1,332 from next month.
MSPs yesterday approved the funding plans for each local authority next year.
The Government has said it will provide an extra £495million of revenue funding to councils in 2020/21.
But council umbrella body Cosla has pointed out that local authorities will need to invest an extra £590million in additional commitments as a result of Government demands such as expanding free childcare next year, meaning they face a £95million deficit and will have to make cuts.
Scottish Labour said the use of ring-fenced funding was turning local councillors into ‘administrators’.
The Scottish Government said: ‘Despite continued UK Government real-terms cuts to Scotland’s resource budget, we have treated local government very fairly.’