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Chamber and committees

Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee

Council Tax

The Committee is holding a short inquiry on the potential for changes to the current council tax system in Scotland. The inquiry will involve taking evidence from stakeholders on the following key themes:

  • Progress made by the since its first meeting in 2022
  • Barriers to change in this area
  • Ways in which barriers to change could be addressed
  • Arguments for and against a revaluation of domestic properties being undertaken in Scotland
  • What Scotland can learn from other countries, including for example, Wales, in terms of their approaches to revaluation and reform
  • Potential costs of any revaluation exercise in Scotland and how it should be funded
  • Assuming that council tax remains one of the main local taxes in Scotland, what other reforms to the tax could be explored?

The Commission on Local Tax Reform was an independent Commission created by the Scottish Government and co-chaired by the Minister for Local Government and Community Empowerment and the President of COSLA. It brought together local and national politicians from different political parties and a range of expertise from across Scotland to look at ways of developing a fairer system of local taxation. It published its final report which you can view below:

The Committee has also agreed to consider an approach to an inquiry involving wider consideration of local taxation at a later date.

Timetable

18 February 2025

The Committee heard from two panels of witnesses consisting of academics, tax specialists, an equalities organisation, and economists.

25 February 2025

The Committee heard from professional bodies on local taxation and representatives of local government in Wales.

4 March 2025

The Committee heard from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government and COSLA.

Meetings

The inquiry was discussed at the following Committee meetings:

Correspondence

The Committee has sent and received the following correspondence during the inquiry:

Council Tax Inquiry Welsh Local Government Association submission

Letter from the Welsh Local Government Association, 19 February 2025

Council Tax Inquiry letter from COSLA

Letter from COSLA, 18 February 2025

Council Tax IRRV submission

Submission from the Institute of Revenues, Rating and Valuation on the Council Tax Inquiry in Scotland, 14 February 2025

Council Tax letter from the Cabinet Secretary

Letter from the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government, 11 February 2025