How much to properly fund key services? A 30% council tax rise!
SCOTS face a devastating double whammy of ‘massive council tax increases’ and cuts to public services following the Budget, analysis shows.
Local authorities have warned that they face a £100 million cut, after inflation, following Finance Secretary Kate Forbes’s statement to parliament.
Council tax bills would have to rise by 3 per cent just to make up for the Finance Secretary’s ‘cut’, say researchers. To properly fund local services they would have to soar by 30 per cent.
While such a rise is not likely, it lays bare the size of the financial black hole the Scottish Government has lumbered councils with.
Cosla, the umbrella body representing Scotland’s 32 local authorities, estimates that to properly fund community services, such as schools, libraries and swimming pools, they would need £12.7 billion in 2022/23 – and they are £867 million short of that figure.
Scots Tory finance spokesman Liz Smith said: ‘This SNP Budget has failed to deliver for local councils and essential services, instead quietly opening the door to massive council tax increases next year. The Scottish public will be dismayed at the staggering tax rises that may have to be implemented.
‘Instead of providing fair funding for our communities, as we have repeatedly called for, the SNP have passed the buck to councils.
Councils now face an impossible choice between failing to deliver essential services and implementing punishing tax hikes.’
In Edinburgh, owners of an average Band D home pay £1,338.59 a year in council tax. A 3 per cent increase would amount to an extra £40.16, while a 30 per cent rise would add £401.58 to bills.
Council tax north of the Border has not risen by more than 4.79 per cent in a decade. However, when asked last week, not one local authority committed to staying below that next year, although many added that it was too early to say either way.
Gail Macgregor, resources spokesman for Cosla, said: ‘In terms of council tax, while we
‘Local authorities face an impossible choice’
welcome the removal of the cap and the recognition that this is a local tax that should be decided locally, we cannot put the burden of a poor settlement on to hard pressed families. That is simply not fair.’
But she warned: ‘This settlement represents a £100 million cut, before any other pressures such as National Insurance costs or inflation are taken into account. We are left in a position where we do not have adequate funding to provide essential services and support recovery from Covid.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Local authorities will receive almost £12.5 billion in 2022/23, a real terms increase of 4.5 per cent. This Budget is one of choices and difficult decisions have been made that will lift children out of poverty, invest in social care and help tackle the climate emergency.’