‘CLEVER” plans to end the council tax freeze and cut payments for poorer Scots will help the Scottish Government avoid political pressure – but are not enough to deliver genuine change, an expert said last night.

Dr Neil McGarvey, of Strathclyde University, said “cautious” proposals unveiled by Nicola Sturgeon yesterday would be hailed as progressive as the wealthy pay more and the less well-off pay less.

The plans, which include an end to the eight-year council-tax freeze and give councils the power to vary rates by three per cent, would raise £100 million for investment in schools.

McGarvey told The National this could negate the 1p income tax rise policy floated by Labour and the LibDems to benefit education and would do nothing to derail the SNP’s campaign to win a historic third Holyrood term.

However, he joined a host of critical voices, including trade unions and local government body Cosla, who said the changes would not create real change and questioned the decision not to update the 1991 property values on which the system is based or institute more radical change.

The strategy was unveiled just one day after fresh polling suggested Sturgeon’s party is on course to win power yet again in May.

Yesterday, McGarvey said: “A three per cent rise might not sound like much, but it in the context of 0.5 per cent inflation it is. Ending the council-tax freeze alleviates the political pressure on the Scottish Government, targeting additional money on education negates the Labour/LibDem income tax policy. It’s a clever way to deal with that.”

He added: “When it comes to tax reform, anything beyond cautious is politically risky – this is pretty risk-averse stuff. It might influence the numbers but the election result is a foregone conclusion.”

Labour hit out at the SNP plan, challenging the party to scrap the council tax as it previously promised.

Meanwhile, the Tories said it could deter higher earners from settling in Scotland and the Greens called it “regressive”.

While they welcomed an end to the council-tax freeze, Unison said the scheme would not mitigate job and service cuts and the STUC called it “disappointing” and “weak”.

Many also attacked the failure to re-value residential properties after research carried out by the Commission on Local Tax Reform found more than half of Scots are in the wrong band.

Local government body Cosla, which partnered the Scottish Government on that Commission, hit out angrily at Sturgeon’s decision not to adopt one of its three suggested tax options – a replacement property tax, a land value tax or a local income tax.

Announcing the plan in Lasswade, Midlothian, Sturgeon said re-valuing homes would cost some people too much, given the price rises in some parts of the country, and that councils could also be given a portion of income tax, subject to a consultation.

She said: “What I’m setting out today is a substantial change. Tax policy should not be seen as some kind of political virility symbol. We need to make sure that we have tax changes that are fair, reasonable, measured and introduced for a purpose.

“I’m asking people in the most expensive houses in the country, those in the top band, [to] pay a significantly increased portion in council tax and also taking steps to make sure those on the lowest incomes with children will pay less.

“I think it’s fair and it’s balanced and I think it will meet with approval of people around the country.”

Cosla leader David O’Neill said: “I am saddened that yet again we have an offence against local democracy, local decision making and local choice. They have completely ignored the good work of the Commission on Local Tax Reform.

“What we have before us today is a damp squib. It should be called the Scottish Government tax because it is now so centrally controlled that to even have the word council associated with it is an insult to councils and disingenuous to communities.”

However, Professor Mark Stephens of Heriot Watt University told The National: “The Commission’s remit was not to come up with a blueprint for the future, all it did was be suggestive of an approach.

“The Scottish Government has adopted an evolutionary approach that could lead the system to look very much like the systems outlined in the Commission’s report.”

Stephens said the failure to re-value homes suggest the plan is as an “interim measure”, adding: “The council-tax freeze is very popular on doorsteps. SNP canvassers have been working on that for years.

“To break away from that signifies this is important. It doesn’t go anywhere near as far as I’d like but it is a step in the right direction.”

What does it all mean?

IF re-elected, Sturgeon’s administration would axe the freeze from April 2017 and push up rates for those in the highest E-H council tax bands by £2-£10 per week, with 54,000 of these households on lower incomes eligible for targeted relief.

The lowest bands — A-D — would not be redrawn, while child allowance would be increased by 25 per cent to an average of £173 per year, benefiting 140,000 youngsters in 77,000 households to ease child poverty.

Councils would also gain the power to increase the tax by a maximum three per cent, generating a potential £70m for services.

However, the cap would ensure levels remain below those of England and stay under the level they could have reached if not for the freeze, introduced in 2007.


Lesley Riddoch: Local tax is crying out for a radical overhaul


The National View: Could Holyrood have pushed reform further?