Call for evidence on the Council Tax (Substitution of Proportion) (Scotland) Order 2016

The Chartered Institute of Taxation and the LITRG have jointly responded to the local Government and Communities Committee call for evidence on the Council Tax (Substitution of Proportion) (Scotland) Order 2016. We note that the proposals to reform Council Tax aim to make the system ‘fairer’, but that what is fair is subjective and we call for careful consideration of the interactions of the changes to Council Tax reduction with tax credits, universal credit and other welfare benefits, to prevent problems such as claimants being exposed to extremely high marginal deduction rates.