REVALUATIONS of council tax could move two-thirds of Edinburgh properties up one or more council tax bands, a new report finds.
The Revaluation and reform of council tax in Scotland report, produced by the Institute for Fiscal Studies and commissioned by the Scottish Government, analysed different possibilities for council tax bands in Scotland.
Options included pure revaluation, a revalued more differentiated 12-band system, a less regressive 12-band system, a less regressive 14-band system, and a continuous proportional system.
The report states that while a pure revaluation would impact Scottish properties differently based on location, it estimates that “almost two-thirds would move up one or more band in Edinburgh City.”
The pure revaluation metric maintains the current eight-band structure and places the same proportion of properties nationally into each band as currently, but based instead on up-to-date values.
Edinburgh residents would be most affected among Scots if revaluation does take place.
Under the current system, council tax is dependent on the assessed value of a property as of April 1991, the tax rate set by the council covering the area it is located in, and whether the occupier is entitled to an exemption or discount.
In Scotland, most properties fall under council tax band B, where the property was valued between £27,001 and £35,000 in April 1991.
Those in band B on average pay a standard gross tax bill of £1,200.
The pure revaluation metric would revalue band B properties to £148,147, with the same tax applied.
However, the exponential increase in property value has meant that many properties in Edinburgh wouldn’t fit in the same tax band anymore.
The 12 and 14-band redistributions would create more tax bands to cover a wider range of property values.
The other proposed tax redistributions would hit Edinburgh residents the hardest, as over 80% of residents would see their gross relative tax rate increase.
82% would see an increase under the 12-band differentiated, 80% under the 12-band less regressive, 83% under the 14-band less regressive, and 81% under continuous proportional model.
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