Nicola Sturgeon plans to increase council tax for those live in the most expensive houses.
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The 75 per cent of Scottish households that fall in bands A to D will be unaffected by the move, while around 54,000 households living in properties in bands E to H on net incomes of up to £25,000 will be entitled to an exemption, she said.
The proposals, which spells the end of the council tax freeze, will see the average band E household paying around £100 extra each year, with the highest band, H, contributing an extra £500.
Under the proposals the average band E household will pay around £2 per week more and the average household in the highest band will pay around £10 a week more.
“These reforms to council tax bands will mean no change for three out of every four Scottish households, with those in lower banded properties paying no more than they do now”.
A consultation on allowing councils to levy a tax on development as well as vacant and derelict land to reduce land banking and increase supply of homes has also been promised.
But Ms Sturgeon dismissed concerns that the reforms would make Scotland a less attractive place for wealthy people, pointing out that even after the changes, the average council tax across all bands would still be lower than in England.
In addition the council tax freeze, which has been in place since 2007, is to be ended from April next year.
In principle, an equitable form of local taxation should take into account both property values and income, and while the reforms do not meet that ideal, they will at least make the current system fairer by, for example, offering additional support for families earning less than £25,000.
“The council tax freeze has damaged local services, cost jobs and affected important community facilities”, Wightman said.
We will know the answer to that when the details of the income tax scheme are revealed in due course, and in the meantime, the SNP has succeeded in improving the status quo while failing to go as far as it said it would.
“Nicola Sturgeon says she wants to invest more in education, yet she is cutting the budget for schools”.
“Scottish Labour will set out our fairer plans to reform the system in the coming weeks”.
“When these changes are added to the steep rises in stamp duty brought in by John Swinney as a cash grab, but which has only resulted in slowing the housing market and creating a black hole in Scotland’s finances”, she said.
Scotland’s 32 local authorities will also be allowed to raise local rates by a maximum of 3% from April 2017, capping that at £70m across Scotland.
He said: “There is nothing radical in today’s announcement”. This invited immediate accusations from council leaders that continued central control was undermining local democracy.
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In the absence of such a re-evaluation, the SNP has opted for more cautious reform, combined with a plan to assign councils a portion of income tax.
