For almost two decades, Scots appeared to benefit from a tax perk that their neighbours south of the border could only dream of.
While in England, the average band D council tax bill rose by £850 between April 2007 and April 2025, a combination of council tax freezes and caps imposed by Holyrood meant the average increase in Scotland was just £269 over this period.
But this reprieve ended last year, when the Scottish Government refused to cap or freeze bills any longer – opening the floodgates for local authorities to raise their rates.
In 2025, 27 out of 32 councils hit households with council tax rises of at least 8pc, with Falkirk increasing bills by more than 15pc. A similar pattern emerged again this year, with double-digit increases imposed by both Aberdeenshire and Moray.
Voters are increasingly fed up with the system, and the “long overdue” reforms which have not materialised over the nearly two decades the Scottish National Party (SNP) has been in power.
For second home owners, these eye-watering increases have been compounded by new powers granted to Scottish town halls, which allow the premiums these households pay to be raised by unlimited amounts.
Some councils have jumped at the opportunity to use these powers. In Midlothian, some second home owners will pay a 500pc premium on their normal council tax bill this year, and a 300pc premium has been applied by the Scottish Highlands.
It is hard to see how these punitive tax rises won’t be fresh in the minds of voters when they head to the polls in the Scottish parliamentary elections on May 7.
Politicians know this, and almost all of the major parties have put forward proposals in their manifestos to change the council tax system.
Reform, for example, has pledged to scrap plans to introduce new council tax bands for high-value properties in 2028. They are betting that Scots have had enough of ballooning bills, and will vote accordingly.
According to Meghan Gallacher, the Scottish Conservatives housing spokesman and former deputy leader, it is obvious who should be blamed for the explosion in council tax bills.
She says: “Hard-pressed Scots are being forced to pay more and more in tax after years of SNP [Scottish National Party] financial mismanagement.
“The nationalists’ headline-grabbing council tax freeze without giving councils proper resources to offset that has only left local authorities cash-strapped and with little option but to hit families with huge increases in their bills.”
