Professor calls on government to end council tax freeze

Published on Friday 5 June 2009 22:28

THE Scottish Government has been urged to scrap the council tax freeze.

For the last two years the SNP has funded local authorities specifically so they do not have to increase council tax charges.

But public finance expert Professor Arthur Midwinter said yesterday that funding should end and the Scottish Government's priority should be protecting public investment and employment.

Prof Midwinter said: "The council tax freeze should be dropped."

He also called for the "underfunded spending commitments" in the concordat deal between the Scottish Government and councils to be axed.

Prof Midwinter, speaking at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations' conference in Glasgow, said that since 2007 the SNP government had "failed to prioritise effectively". And he said savings targets had "resulted in cuts in frontline services".

Prof Midwinter, a visiting professor in the Institute of Public Sector Accounting Research at Edinburgh University, said resources will be "tight".

However, a Scottish Government spokesman said: "As families feel the effects of these tough economic times, a council tax freeze is absolutely right for Scotland."