In July 2024, from the Scottish Government:
Council Tax rates are regularly quoted as being lower in Scotland than in England. However, does a simple numerical comparison tell you everything you need to know?
At face value, the official statistics show that the average Council Tax bill per dwelling in Scotland is over £350 per year lower. 1
The full report does go on to explain why direct comparisons are problematic but you can be sure that were this the other way round, MSM would not hesitate to shout:
SNP Council Tax bills £350 higher!
In November 2023, from Policy Mogul, an AI enhanced blog:
Scotland could do more to put money in pockets with full powers of independence New figures from the House of Commons Library show Scotland has had the lowest council tax for 16 years under an SNP government, when compared with England and Wales.
Whilst the average amount of council tax in Scotland has decreased by -7.1% (around £101) in real terms since the SNP came to power, in Labour run-Wales it has increased in real terms by 31.6% (around £445). In England under successive Tory and Labour governments, it has slightly increased.
Council tax is also cheaper in every Band (A-H) in Scotland, when compared with England and Wales, and will likely remain so given the Council Tax freeze the SNP Scottish Government has recently announced, which has not been replicated elsewhere in the UK. The figures come after reports revealed the Labour Party’s ‘shocking’ plans to raise council tax by 32% in East Lothian, which has been stopped in its tracks by the SNP’s council tax freeze.2
What council tax increase is predicted for the UK in 2025/2026?
5%.3
So, council tax increases will be comparable to those in England and Wales thus remaining far lower in total.
Sources:
- https://blogs.gov.scot/statistics/2024/07/11/council-tax-comparisons-between-scotland-and-england-coherence-blog/#:~:text=Council%20Tax%20rates%20are%20regularly,%C2%A3350%20per%20year%20lower.
- https://policymogul.com/key-updates/32461/new-figures-scotland-has-lowest-council-tax-every-year-for-16-years-under-snp
- https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2024/11/17/government-sets-limit-on-council-tax-rises-in-2025-26/#:~:text=Local%20authorities%20will%20be%20able,without%20need%20for%20local%20referendum
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The Council Tax freeze was maintained for too long. It disempowered local democracy. Replace Council tax with some things more progressive and empower councils to raise fund via property and land taxes, tourist levies, etc.
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Local Government finances are in a mess in the one country in the UK whose government has ALL the powers to fix them!
Yes the inheritance from the Tories is a major cause. Indeed the extent of how bad things are may not be fully known. Recall the National Audit Office last week reporting that it could not approve the UK’s Whole of Government Accounts: ‘Just over 10% (43) of England’s 426 local authorities submitted reliable data to the WGA. Of the near 90% of local authorities that failed to submit reliable data, 46% (196) submitted information that hasn’t been audited, and 44% (187) did not submit any data at all.’
But the Labour government’s recent budget doesn’t appear to be offering a fix. The health think tank, the Nuffield Trust on November 22 published a blog post entitled: ‘Will the Autumn Budget push the social care sector beyond breaking point?’
The Trust estimates that local authorities currently purchase just over 70% of all care delivered by the independent sector in England, ‘so their financial health is critical to determining the sustainability of providers’. It explains: ‘Recent ADASS (Association of Directors of Adult Social Services) surveys have underlined how precarious council finances are. Local authorities are set to overspend on social care by around £564 million in this current financial year, and 37% say they are planning to draw on non-recurrent sources (e.g. reserves) to prop up budgets. The Health Foundation estimates that an additional £1 billion would be needed next year just to keep pace with demand for adult social care, let alone make any improvements.‘
‘In this context, it is difficult to see how councils will be able to increase the rates they pay for care sufficiently to enable providers to make financial ends meet.’
It adds: ‘Already fragile after Covid, runaway inflation and a decade of deep cuts to funding, the near 18,000 organisations that provide care in England now fear they will be pushed over the edge of financial viability when the changes to the Employer National Insurance Contributions (ENICs) regime announced in the budget kick in.’
‘Without additional funding from central government, the combined financial impact of the ENIC rise and the new minimum wage level might see not just single providers going out of business but large swathes of the market collapsing.’
The CEO of another England-centric health think tank, The Kings Fund in a comment piece in the FT (November, 27) also expresses concern about the crisis in English Councils’ ability to fund social care. Reflecting on the Labour government and its electioneering rhetoric about being determined to fix a broken NHS, she notes: ‘All the more strange, then, that on social care — which is umbilically tied to the NHS in many ways — it has stumbled from one mis-step to another.’
‘October’s Budget added injury to impasse. The changes announced to employer national insurance contributions loaded extra costs on providers that they hadn’t anticipated and couldn’t afford.’
The Kings Fund’s CEO observes that: ‘.. in a few short months the mood in the social care sector has gone from cautious enthusiasm to bewilderment and, now, anger. Bewilderment at what long-term vision the government really has for social care. And anger at the fact that such a critical part of the national health and care infrastructure is being so consistently overlooked and is expected to simply suck up the extra costs it now faces. ‘
The Institute for Government published an article on local government in England (November 29). It explained: ‘The government decided to increase grant funding by £1.3bn at the budget. If all local authorities increase council tax by the maximum allowed, core spending power (CSP) is due to rise by 3.2% in real terms in 2025/26 – an amount that is in line with average annual increases since 2019, but which still leaves CSP roughly 9% lower in real terms than in 2010.‘
Meanwhile we need to be aware that Labour and it allies will claim in the run up to 2026 Holyrood election that the Westminster government has given Scotland loads more money, enough to fix everything from the NHS, to social care, to council services etc. This message will be pumped out by BBC Scotland, STV, The Herald, the Daily Record and many more.
Voters in Scotland must somehow get to know – and soon – that there is no quick fix being delivered by Labour for England or for Wales, where on most metrics, many public services already fall well below standards in Scotland?
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”Damned if they do damned if they don’t !”
That is the position the SNP Government faces REGARDLESS of whether they raise or lower – Council Tax , Income Tax , Rates , …..
The Media and the London based ”Scottish” unionist parties will criticise the SNP Government whatever they do , in any policy area . So F*ck them !
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“Soaring” has been the go-to hyperbole for MSM most every winter for the last several years in Scotland , the intent as much to worry the electorate when facing high energy bills as it is to distract discussion away from the energy stitch-up etc by London politics to SNP governance…
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