ALMOST £112 million in council tax payments went uncollected across Scotland last year, it emerged yesterday.
Councils managed to collect the majority of council tax, but there was still a big difference between the most efficient authority, Orkney – which collected 97.7 per cent of council tax – and the worst-performing, Glasgow, which collected just 88 pe
r cent of the money it was owed.
Figures published by the Scottish Government yesterday showed that bills totalling £1.94 billion were issued and £1.828 billion was received – a collection rate of 94.2 per cent, slightly up on the previous year's 93.8 per cent.
The Conservatives said the figures should sound "alarm bells" in the Scottish Government as there was no guarantee similar collection levels could be achieved for a local income tax.
Derek Brownlee, the Tories' finance spokesman, said: "These figures are a reminder that the government should focus on reforming and reducing the council tax, not introducing a new and unwanted tax on earnings."
But John Swinney, the finance secretary, said: "Under our plans, four out of five households would be better or no worse off, and people across Scotland would benefit from the biggest tax cut in a generation – a lower local tax as well as a fairer tax.
"And our local income tax will cost far less to administer – the Burt Report estimated savings between £14 million and £25 million per year."
Graeme Morrice, finance spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, said: "Councils are fully committed to collecting council tax as they realise that every pound collected is a pound for vital frontline services.
"Councils will endeavour to build on this success next year, but it becomes more difficult as we are moving towards a section of the community that go out of their way not to pay council tax."
The full article contains 314 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
