Cosla demands next Scottish government 'scrap and replace' council tax
Cosla has also warned that the settlement to local government from Holyrood is “billions short” for the next financial year.
Whoever forms the next Scottish government has been told by the organisation that represents local authorities to scrap council tax rather than “tinker” with the charge.
Cosla, the umbrella organisation for Scottish councils has called on politicians vying to form the next government after May’s election, to draw up plans to replace council tax so Scotland can “move to a new scheme altogether”.
Ricky Bell, Cosla’s resource spokesperson also warned that despite handing authorities a small increase in funding this year, the settlement from Holyrood was “billions short” of what is needed.
The SNP vowed to scrap and replace council tax in 2007, but still has not drawn up any plans for an alternative to the levy.
The appeal from Cosla comes as local authorities agree their council tax amount for the next financial year, with the majority, if not all local authorities, poised to hike the charge in April.
READ MORE: SNP reveal long-awaited council tax reform options including 'jaw-dropping' increase for some
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Show, Mr Bell, who is also the SNP deputy leader of Glasgow City Council, warned the public “don’t expect to be seeing very low rates” of council tax next year due to “the financial difficulties that councils are in”.
While Mr Bell acknowledged a small real-terms increase from finance secretary Shona Robison to Scottish councils in next year’s budget, he warned that “the big challenge we are facing is a huge rise in demand”.
He said: “We’re seeing that in elderly people as the population ages, more and more people need care packages or going into care homes.
“There’s been a very large rise since Covid of young kids in schools who have got a variety of complex needs and that costs the authority a huge amount of money.
“Our challenge is although we have more money than we did last year, it’s not anywhere near enough to fill the gap.”
Mr Bell suggested that local authorities were having to find a “sweet spot” in not raising council tax too steeply in a cost of living crisis so it was unaffordable for the public, but balancing that with “having to cut” crucial public services.
The Cosla resources spokesperson stressed that following May’s Holyrood election, “a serious conversation” was needed with the next Scottish government “about how we fund local government going forward”.
Mr Bell said that proposals to rejig council tax, including adding higher bands, should include an “option to say let’s scrap the council tax and replace it”.
He warned that the charge is “a regressive tax” that “puts a bigger burden on poorer people than it does on the more wealthy”.
Mr Bell added that “across the political divide, there’s probably support” for scrapping council tax.
He added: “The challenge then becomes what’s the replacement.
“I would like to see them (parties) all say they would replace the council tax. Then each party can outline what its replacement should be.”
He argued for politicians to not simply “tinker about” with a revaluation, but to “move to a new scheme altogether”.
The SNP government has argued that it will be for the next administration after the election to set out how council tax is reformed.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar acknowledged “there has to be a meaningful reform” to council tax.
He added: “There has to be a longer-term look at how we deliver a fair council tax system.
“What I’m not going to do is what the SNP did in 2007 and say we're going to scrap the unfair council tax and then nothing happens.”
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