The future of council tax in Scotland – joint CIOT and LITRG response

The consultation aims to build consensus on council tax reform, and as such was structured as a tick-box form. It explored options to make council tax fairer and more up to date, through options such as revaluation of properties, adjustment of tax bands and transitional protections for households to manage changes to bills.

The CIOT and LITRG completed the tick-box form and obtained permission to submit a joint written response too. This allowed the CIOT and LITRG to provide some context for our responses.

Our response notes that what is fair is subjective. However, we think that in order for a tax to be considered fair, it must tax the base that the policy aims to tax, and, that tax base must be accurately assessed or valued. We therefore welcome the fact that the consultation acknowledges the need for a full revaluation of domestic properties in Scotland. We also think any reform should aim to reduce the regressivity of the current council tax system.

We think that transitional relief and a deferral scheme may be necessary, in particular to assist those on low incomes. These should be publicised, easy to understand and easy to apply for.

We note the importance of good communications to explain changes and the reasons for them, given that reform and revaluation will inevitably cause some uncertainty, disruption and extra work.