Well, here we are again, staring down another council tax hike. This time it’s East Lothian, with a hefty 7.5 per cent increase approved by the Labour administration, backed by a Green and an independent councillor. My first thought, like many folk, is always about the squeeze on household budgets. It feels like a never-ending story, doesn’t it?
The numbers themselves are stark enough. Not just the council tax, but a 7 per cent rise for council tenants’ rent too. I can just imagine the groans around kitchen tables across the county. It’s a tough pill to swallow when every penny already feels accounted for, especially with the cost of living biting hard.
The SNP group pushed for a lower 5.8 per cent increase, arguing it would ease the burden on working families. Councillor Lyn Jardine, their group leader, put it plainly, saying:
In difficult times leadership is not about how much you can raise, it is about who you choose to protect.
I reckon that sentiment will resonate with a lot of people who are already feeling the pinch.
On the other side of the coin, the Labour administration, through Councillor Ruaridh Bennett, argued the hike was necessary. He said:
This rise, along with balanced budget services, allows this council to continue delivering services for our residents and invest in our communities.
It’s the classic tightrope walk, isn’t it? Councils need money to run things, but where do they get it without hitting residents in the pocket?
I read about the Conservatives abstaining, their group leader Councillor George McGuire stating:
I cannot support anything above a five per cent increase.
It’s a position, I suppose, but it doesn’t offer much in the way of an alternative solution when the coffers are bare. It just highlights the political football that local government funding has become.
What really caught my eye was the investment mentioned. Things like £100,000 for holiday camp places for kids with disabilities, specialist youth workers in areas with antisocial behaviour, and even a new gritter and staff for winter. I can see the value in these services, especially come the depths of a Scottish winter, when a good gritting service is worth its weight in salt.
It brings me back to the bigger picture. Are we just patching over cracks with these annual debates? Councillor Shona McIntosh, the Green who supported the Labour budget, called for the council tax to be scrapped entirely and a new system, like land value reform, to be introduced. Now, that’s a conversation I think we really need to have across Scotland, not just in East Lothian.
Council Leader Norman Hampshire also touched on this, saying:
For as long as I have been a councillor different political parties have said ‘what do we do about council tax’, everyone has looked at it and the alternatives are really difficult. My own personal view is there needs to be some sort of property tax, whether you can find a way of taking people out of the bottom end of it? But the people that have the bigger properties, they are the kind of people who can avoid tax, but they can’t hide the property. It is there and you know where it is and can always get that money.
He’s not wrong about the difficulty of finding alternatives. It’s been decades since the poll tax debacle, and yet we’re still stuck with a system that many feel is unfair and outdated.
It’s a familiar refrain, isn’t it? The argument that local councils are running out of money is hardly new. This East Lothian decision is just another example of the hard choices being made by local authorities across the country. It’s not just about East Lothian, it’s about the whole structure of local government finance in Scotland.
I find myself wondering if this endless cycle of raising council tax, year after year, is really sustainable. It feels like a short-term fix to a long-term problem. With Scottish Labour candidates sensing opportunity in upcoming elections, and the broader scene of Scottish politics always shifting, the pressure on local councils to deliver services without overburdening residents is immense.
The Scottish Government has its own challenges with funding, and local authorities often feel caught in the middle. I believe it’s high time for a proper, cross-party discussion on a fundamental reform of how local services are funded in Scotland. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road, expecting residents to pick up an ever-increasing tab. For more insight into the current system, I often refer to the Scottish Government’s official guidance on council tax, and the work done by organisations like COSLA, the voice of local government in Scotland.
Until a genuinely new system is introduced, one that feels fairer and more strong, I fear we’ll be having this same conversation about council tax increases every single year. And that, to my mind, just isn’t good enough for the people of Scotland.
Source: Edinburgh Live
