Call for Scotland to retain council tax

SCOTLAND should keep the council tax instead of experimenting with riskier new local taxes after the Holyrood election, according to the expert body on property values.

The Scottish Assessors Association (SAA) said any problems with the £2billion-ayear council tax could be “easily rectified”, and there was no public appetite to abolish it.

The SAA makes its case in a new presentation to the cross-party Commission on Local Tax Reform, which is due to report on a “fairer” local tax system for Scotland by September.

Among the options are a reformed council tax, land value tax, sales tax and local income tax.

The commission’s work is expected to become a key part of the 2016 election, as all parties wrestle with the politically thorny problem of local tax reform, with any change likely to involve an end to the eight-year-old council tax freeze and possible property revaluations.

The SAA, whose members value properties for local taxes, said council tax was hard to avoid, transparent, accepted by voters, cheap to administer, and had a high collection rate.

Problems with council tax could be fixed by revaluing the current eight bands, adding extra bands, changing the ratio between bands, making regular revaluations automatic, and revaluing properties after alterations which increased their value, the SAA said.

Joan Hewton, SAA President, said council tax could be refined in many different way, such as moving to 11 or 12 bands.

Because council tax has never been revalued, it is still based on 1991 property costs.

The SNP froze the levy in 2008 in anticipation of replacing it with a local income tax (LIT).

LIT later fell apart, but the SNP kept the popular freeze, and its cost has since spiralled. This year it will cost central government £560 million.