The proposals of the Scottish Government to amend the council tax by increasing it for those in properties in the four highest bands does absolutely nothing to address the major anomaly whereby the council tax bands are based on property valuations dating from 1991, some 25 years ago,
Accordingly, as each year passes, the tax bands become more and more remote from the reality of property values, as different kinds of housing in different parts of the country increase in value at differential rates; and the nonsense whereby new houses and flats are assessed for council tax band purposes on the basis of hypothetical 1991 values is perpetuated.
I appreciate that a nationwide property revaluation would be an expensive exercise (and that there would be winners and losers) but it will have to be done sooner or later. Otherwise the inherent unfairnesses in the system will simply multiply.
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