Tuesday January 27th 2026
West Lothian Council headquarters
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Stuart Sommerville
By Stuart Sommerville, LDR
West Lothian Council has backed broader reform of the council tax system.
Responding to a Holyrood consultation councillors supported the call for 14 bands instead of the current eight, and revaluation every five years.
But across the chamber, with the exception of the SNP, there was little enthusiasm and a fair bit of scepticism as to what changes will bring.
The council’s own finance officers predict higher bills and an initially more punitive system unless mitigation is in place.
This month’s meeting of the Council’s Executive backed the responses to a national survey. There was criticism of the constraints of the survey that only narrow reforms of the existing system would be considered.
Councillor Sally Pattle called it “a stretch” to describe plans as reform of the Council Tax.
“It’s exactly the same model, just a slightly different structure. Lib Dems have always advocated for a land value tax because it is more progressive and not regressive as the current council tax system is.
“I understand that due to constraints of consultation. The current Council Tax is a regressive tax something we would advocate.”
Conservative group leader Damian Doran-Timson, one of several councillors standing in the forthcoming Scottish parliamentary elections, told the meeting: “It says it is a progressive 12 band system. It’s not progressive to add more tax bands.
“A property’s value does not mean its occupiers have the money to pay more in tax. It’s unfortunate the SNP didn’t honour its pledge to get rid of the Council Tax. The idea that it makes it more progressive by adding more bands to it is nonsense.”
SNP group leader Janet Campbell said that the SNP’s proposals to get rid of the Council Tax in 2007- when it formed a minority government had been voted down by all other political parties in Holyrood.
She added: “This is extremely welcome. I hope the people in Almond Valley were listening to the Conservative candidate claim that rich people shouldn’t pay more.
“I want to thank the Scottish Government for introducing the review and look forward to the new system being implemented across Scotland.”
Councillor Tom Conn for Labour said: “ I’m slightly hopeful that this is a positive statement by the Scottish Government and not another false dawn.
“Why has it taken so long for revaluations. No one has had the bottle carry out revaluations.”
He warned that any revaluation would need a long timescale and thus the promise of reform would not be an instant fix, He suggested any changes “could go back onto the bottom shelf”.
He also pointed out that £4.3bn had been spent across Scotland on the Council Tax Reduction Scheme. He claimed that, had that money been given to councils instead of being cut from budgets, there would not have been the rises there have in Council Tax.
The Council Tax is formulated on housing valuations that are now 34 years old.
In a report to the Executive finance officers said: “The increase in the relative tax rate under a pure revaluation shows that property values in West Lothian have increased by more than the average across Scotland as a whole since 1991, when current bands were set.
“Irrespective of the model, the gross average tax rate in West Lothian would increase and therefore more council tax would be collected.”
They added: “The estimated value of domestic properties in West Lothian has increased by 430% since 1993, well above the Scottish average of 357%.
“All proposed models for revaluation show that a significant number of households in West Lothian will see an increase in their band. As such, a transitional relief scheme will be necessary.”
And in their response to the Holyrood consultation they cautioned: “There are concerns that if proposed Council Tax changes are implemented significantly above inflation rates without suitable mitigation and support measures in place that council tax collection levels may be impacted.”
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