Call for higher council tax for large homes

ONE of Scotland's leading unions is calling for a wholesale reform of the council tax to bring in higher charges for homeowners in more expensive homes.

Unison, the public services union, is backing calls for more bands and a change to the "gearing" of the system so that those in the biggest homes pay far more in relation to those in the smallest than they do at present.

It is also calling for a revaluation of property to take into account the huge changes in property values.

Currently, properties are still measured according to their value in the early 1990s.

Unison's call, outlined in its manifesto published today for the Holyrood 2011 elections, will be watched with interest, with Labour yet to declare its own reforms for the council tax.

Leader Iain Gray has said he backed the council tax freeze for 2011-12, but a spokesman for the party last night said that its longer-term reform proposals would be unveiled "in due course".

Two years ago it was reported that the party was considering plans for a new property tax based on the valuation of individual homes. The move was seen as a revisiting of a report into local taxation in 2006 by Sir Peter Burt, the former chief executive of the Bank of Scotland.

Meanwhile, the SNP last night confirmed that, if re-elected, it would once again attempt to introduce a local income tax. Under their plans, income rather than property would be taxed to pay for local services.

The Unison paper, published today, declares: "Parties in the parliament need to revisit the Burt report and work together to create a fair local property tax.

"In the meantime, the ongoing council tax freeze is depriving local authorities of desperately needed revenue and should not continue."