New plans by the SNP to increase council tax in Scotland will deprive the Scottish Borders of more than £1m of extra revenue a year.
New research from the Scottish Conservatives shows that the controversial proposals which will increase tax for bands E to H but won’t let councils spend any extra revenue. Instead, the money will be centralised and spent on an attainment fund in other areas.
In the Scottish Borders, council tax payers will fork out an extra £2.8 million a year, but pupils in the Borders will only benefit from a £1.7 million share of the £107 million attainment fund.
In order to push the plans through the Scottish Parliament, even the SNP were forced to admit that their plans "undermine the principle of local accountability and autonomy".
Local MSP John Lamont has said the plans amount to a “tax grab” on the Scottish Borders and damage the principle of local accountability.
Commenting, John Lamont MSP said: “The Scottish Government’s plans threaten a fundamental part of local taxation – which is the money raised in an area should stay in that area.
“In the Scottish Borders, this means more than £1 million a year in council tax payments is being taken away and spent in an entirely separate part of the country. Not only will people with relatively modest homes be hit by a tax increase, but the extra money raised will go to the central belt to be spent.
"This is quite simply wrong and is yet another example of local decision making being centralised by the SNP.”