Renfrewshire Liberal Democrats have today set out how the SNP and Greens will hammer households with a storm of council tax rises in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, as the party revealed that under new Scottish Government proposals 22,492 households in Renfrewshire will see council tax soar.
On 20th September a Scottish Government consultation on changes to council tax rates will conclude. Scottish Liberal Democrat analysis of the government’s proposals has now revealed 22,492 households in Renfrewshire will see council tax rises ranging from £141.52 to £791.69.
Across Scotland, 715,312 households will see council tax rises ranging from £124 to £835. Scotland currently has 2,562,357 chargeable dwellings. This means 28% of households will be hit by an additional council tax rise on top of any yearly increase.
Council tax bands are still based on valuations from 1991 or estimates based on what a property might have been worth for newer properties.
Commenting on the analysis, Councillor Anne Hannigan said:
“The SNP and Greens are planning on hammering households in Renfrewshire with a storm of council tax rises during the worst cost of living crisis for generations.
“The nationalists have been in government promising to abolish the council tax for 16 years –more than half the existence of the tax which Nicola Sturgeon said she “hated”.
“Now their new plan is to embed it, extend the lifetime of the current unfair system and hit almost a quarter of households with a massive extra bill at the worst possible time.
“These changes would see bills go up and services still cut. People would be paying more for less. It won’t offset the SNP/Green Government’s systematic underfunding of local government which has devastated essential local services.
“After years of the SNP eroding council budgets and the impact that this has had on our essential services it is clear that we need to ensure local authorities are properly funded, but this proposal is not the solution.
“These tax hikes must be scrapped. The government should instead back Scottish Liberal Democrat plans that would deliver the power surge which councils need and end the underfunding of local government once and for all.”
The Scottish Government is consulting on changes to council tax and plan to increase charges for bands E-H. The consultation will run for 10 weeks till 20 September 2023. Any changes would come into effect at the start of the 2024-25 financial year.
