Edinburgh households face higher tax rates under council tax reforms

Four out of five properties in Edinburgh face higher tax rates under the latest proposals for reform of the council tax.

- by Ian Swanson

Edinburgh households face higher tax rates under a shake-up of council tax

(Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

The Scottish Government has published a consultation document with four different options for a shakeup of the tax, in a bid to make it "fairer and more up to date".

But analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, published alongside the consultation, shows most Edinburgh households would see a higher tax rate under all the options.

The first option would be a straight revaluation of properties - current council tax bills are still based on the 1991 valuations used when the tax was first introduced. The existing eight band system would be retained, but with thresholds adjusted to reflect how property prices have increased since 1991.

The second option would replace the eight bands with a new 12-band structure to create a more gradual increase in council tax across property types, reducing the tax rate for the lower value properties and increasing the rate for higher value properties.

Option three would also use a 12-band structure, but the tax rates would be adjusted to make the system more progressive.

And option four would make it even more progressive by creating a 14-band structure, with extra bands at the top and bottom to achieve smaller changes in tax rates between bands.