SCOTTISH Government plans to increase council tax for larger homes are being opposed by East Lothian councillors amid fears local residents will not benefit from the additional cash generated.
The national proposal, which would see council tax for Band E and above homes rise by between 7.5 and 22.5 per cent annually, could see an additional £5 million collected in the county.
However, a report to East Lothian councillors warned that the local authority’s annual funding from the Scottish Government could be reduced to counter balance the additional revenue.
The council has been asked to give a response to a consultation on the proposed changes.
The Scottish Government's planned increase for council tax bands E-H, which it is consulting on, would be in addition to any other annual increases to the council tax charge.
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And at an online meeting of the council on Tuesday, the Labour administration urged fellow councillors to back a response “strongly opposing” the plans.
Councillor Norman Hampshire, the council leader, said the current council tax system was “broken and unfair”.
He said: “These proposals will indiscriminately affect pensioners and young families on fixed incomes particularly hard.
“Council budgets are under pressure with high interest rates, inflation, increases in energy costs and growth in demand for council services.
“This problem needs to be addressed by an increase in national government grant – not by these proposed unfair council tax multipliers.
“With the financial pressure that the council is facing, it would be wrong to increase council tax in this way and not be able to use all of the revenue raised for the benefit of East Lothian Council taxpayers.”
Earlier in the meeting, councillors approved a public consultation going out later this year on proposed budget cuts to tackle a predicted £27m budget gap next year.
A “significant council tax increase” could be one option open to the council. East Lothian Council officers reporting on the proposed changes to council tax charges for properties in Band E or higher said: “It is important to note that, under the current method of distributing funding to local government, this increase would be taken into account and a negative reduction would be applied to the funding received through the general revenue grant.”
However, when asked if they could say how much of a reduction it would be, they were unable to provide a figure or say if it would be as much as £5 million.
Councillor Shona McIntosh told the meeting: “I think we all agree council tax is unfair but, given the financial situation we have been presented with, to just oppose something which could bring £5 million funds in just because an unidentified amount could be taken away makes no sense.”
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The SNP group took a short recess, after initially asking for the Labour administration’s amendment to be altered to ensure all group leaders were consulted on the response, after raising concerns about some of the claims made.
They opted to oppose any response to the public consultation from the council and, along with Councillor McIntosh, opposed the Labour administration’s amendment which strongly opposing the proposed changes.
The amendment was passed by 12 votes to seven.
East Lothian Council tax bills increased by seven per cent this year.
There are approximately 19,000 households in East Lothian in council tax bands E to H.
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