MERRY TAXMAS!

As hard-up families scrimp to pay festive bills, councils plan cynical 5-year cash grab

COUNCIL tax bills will rise every year for the next five years as local authorities launch an unprecedented cash raid on hard-working families.

Some local authorities have told The Scottish Mail on Sunday they are already planning to raise council tax rates by 3 per cent in April.

Others have gone even further and have drawn up plans to keep increasing bills by 3 per cent every year for the next five years. The two councils that have revealed five-year plans are Edinburgh and West Lothian, where council tax will rise in total by 16 per cent by 2022-23. People in a

From Page One Band D property in Edinburgh will pay £1,396 a year – £192 more than at present.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay announced higher taxes in his Budget earlier this month.

Councils said the Budget left them facing a real-terms cut of £153 million. Last week, we asked the 32 local authorities to disclose their council tax plans.

While the majority said it was too soon to say if council tax would go up, none promised it would not. One source said: ‘The draft Budget all but assumes every council will raise tax. I think it would be difficult to pass up, particularly given it continues to have a positive impact on revenue in future years.’

Yet fat cat council bosses continue to get richer. Last year saw the number of officials earning more than £100,000 rise from 203 to 228. Dozens get more than the Prime Minister’s £150,402, including 13 in Glasgow and eight in Edinburgh, according to the TaxPayers’ Alliance.

Alasdair Rankin, finance and resources convener at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: ‘The council’s planning assumptions are based on a 3 per cent increase in council tax each year for the next five years. The proposed increase in 2018-19 would generate £8.1 million.’

A West Lothian consultation document said: ‘The council is basing its long-term financial planning on the assumption that council tax will increase by 3 per cent for all properties each year between 2018-19 and 2022-23.’

Midlothian, Perth and Kinross, Falkirk and Fife are all planning rises of 3 per cent next year.

While refusing to be drawn on council tax rises, Tim Eagle, leader of the Conservative group at Moray Council, said: ‘It is a disgrace that, yet again, Nicola Sturgeon and her team seem to care little about the plight of local government and the huge effects this lack of funding has on rural areas like Moray.’

TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive John O’Connell said: ‘At a time when hard-pressed families in Scotland are struggling, questions will be asked about whether some of these councils have their priorities right.

‘Town hall bosses will continue to have to make some very tough decisions to find necessary savings. They must show restraint when it comes to their own pay packages as well.’

But Gail Macgregor, resources spokesman for council umbrella body Cosla, said: ‘The Budget was a cut of £153 million for essential services. This means there are serious financial challenges that lie ahead.

‘Whilst councils have the ability to raise council tax in their local area, that is a decision they will take based on local needs and circumstances.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Decisions on whether or not to raise council tax by up to 3 per cent are a matter for local authorities. Increasing council tax could raise up to £77 million and generate a realterms increase in spending power for local authorities.’

‘They must show restraint on pay’