If you’re in council tax band E-F take a deep breath…

[Scotsgirl001]

Plans to hike some bill by up to 22.5% 😳
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/council-tax-rise-scotland-leak-30326716.amp

I don't see any other part of the UK proposing up to a 22% increase though......the SNP also had it on a manifesto pledge a long time ago to get rid of council tax and replace it due to fundamental floors.......

Because the state of public services in the rest of the UK, the ones paid for by local authorities, are in just a bad, if not worse than Scotland and are going to continue to get worse (as will ours).

I do wonder what the SNP were thinking of replacing council tax with though. The money has to come from somewhere ... they can't magic it out of thin air. Whereever, however, it's all very depressing.

So if I understand the article the increases will be graded by band. The whole system is ridiculous. We'll pay £300 pounds a year extra for our 3 bed flat, whereas the big house opposite (that costs more than 3x our flat) will pay £700 extra a year. The difference in price is over 1 million... it's almost funny.

we've just bought a new build in Perthshire - apparently we haven't been banded yet - I'm figuring its an E given the earlier houses on the estate already banded

I wonder if it would be fairer to do it by size of property? And grounds?

That means someone staying in a small flat with no garden pays much less than a huge house with significant gardens.

@ProseccoOnTap the trouble with that is that land doesn't have the same value across Scotland either.

A big garden in Morningside is probably worth a lot. A big garden in rural Angus, not really.
Jeremy Corbyn proposed a garden tax didn't he but again it shows someone with a city focus.

I have an ex council house with a much bigger garden than other things locally but it doesn't add anything to the value of my house, it's still worth a lot less than the traditional cottages on the same street with tiny gardens.

The property market is so varied regionally that finding anything fair is going to be difficult. If you go off house value then areas that remain cheap (I think Angus was the last to have an average house price over £100k for example) are going to have a lot less revenue raised by their councils than areas where house prices are high.

My friend is in a 2 bed midmarket rent flat in a large block which is band E. She's moving out with this being one of the main reasons. It's not even somewhere central she needs to walk a good 25 mins/half hour to the nearest supermarket so it's not based of then fact there are a load of facilities on her door step

I do t have a 4 bed detached house , no garage or large plot either

I would be affected by the increase

I am only complaining because to go down a band and not get an increase I would have to spend 20 to 40 k more on a house - the newer houses have been graded very highly it seems

It's the unfairness that sticks - not overjoyed to pay more but to pay more than people down the way with more expensive houses is really pissiing me off

And that’s exactly the issue - any fair system with valuations, appeals etc is going to cost money to implement. Most likely we’ll get a smaller rise than the rate being advertised, people will be relieved and that’ll be that.

I think a fairer system would base the banding on the value of homes in the local council. Then we wouldn't be comparing million pound houses in Edinburgh & Glasgow to houses that cost 60k in some deprived area of Scotland. We would also not end up in a situation where one council has everything in band E+, whereas another has everything below. Anyway in the grand scheme of cost of living it's not a huge increase compared to everything else.

but that is how it works, it’s just the value it’s based on is so old. So this would happen again in 15-20 years when people bought houses for cheaper than what the value would be on the present day. And you can’t keep reassessing bc the people in the houses that have appreciated may not have the cash flow to pay and justify an increased value.
It would also mean that ‘better’ areas collect more council tax.

It’ll be horribly difficult to reform - and politically very unpopular. That’s why it hasn’t been touched for so long.

I think you misunderstood what I was saying @Pammela. I don't want an update to the council tax bands. I want different bands for different councils. So say a £200k home would be band B in Edinburgh, but band F in Angus. What happens at the moment is that you have the same banding all over Scotland. That makes no sense.

I’m still not really clear what you mean tbh. Basically you’re saying that regardless of property size, it should be only based on what someone paid? That does mean buying renovation projects etc could prove problematic too.

I think what they are saying is basing the bands on the council area which does make sense as some councils are naturally a lot more expensive then others. Which means there are alot more properties pushed into the higher expensive bands when they aren't 4 bed detached properties but instead a 2 bed not big flat purely down to location.

So Angus for example which is a cheaper council area and D property can be huge whereas the same property in Edinburgh or parts of Aberdeenshire will be much higher although the same size as house prices are more expensive.
So the grading in more expensive council areas would have a higher starting point and therefore making it more fair and comparable a system.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean! Thanks @Scottishskifun

Here's the consultation link if you would like to comment - although the cynic in me thinks they have already made up their minds & never listen anyway:

consult.gov.scot/local-government-and-communities/consultation-on-a-fairer-council-tax/

Given you can only say agree it should increase or don’t know in the consultation, and you cannot say you think it shouldn’t change, I would say you are right.