Council Tax Freeze

[Flure]

I think he is talking rot.

So, he's talking rot.

The Scottish Government are ...what... talk rot too?

Are they in cahoots do you think?

[MacWalka]

What does council tax actually go towards paying? I've never really known what it funds compared to other forms of tax. Does it pay for local NHS services? Schools?

[antidote]

"The 'freeze' is a disgrace - just a crowd pleaser from the SNP. I'd gladly pay more to ease the strain on vital services."

The freeze is the best thing since sliced bread. If you want to pay more then fine, but for me I want to pay even less.
Why should I subsidise workers in their job? Do they subsidise me when in my profession? No would be the answer to that.
There's simply no need for cuts in front line services when councils employ highly paid chief execs and managers London standard wages with their gilt edged pensions.Cut these people down and keep front line services I say.
Local authorities in Scotland have around £1 billion stashed away in investments and needless to say they get compensated for theCT freeze, but choose to play with people jobs in the run up to an election.

[Charlie Endell]

So, he's talking rot.

The Scottish Government are ...what... talk rot too?

Are they in cahoots do you think?

If the Scottish Government or Matheson told me it was Wednesday I'd have to consult my calendar.

[Scunnered]

So, he's talking rot.

The Scottish Government are ...what... talk rot too?

Are they in cahoots do you think?

Last year in Beith community centre, Nicola Sturgeon said that the SNP can only take Westminster cuts for so long before they start to have a detrimental effect on public services.

The above message was prevalent during Indyref, and was one that I agree with... Mr. Matheson seems to be suggesting the same, except from Holyrood rather than Westminster.

[antidote]

"It's not been fully funded."

Has his failed redesigned of George Square been fully funded? Has his half million pound pay offs to his mates been fully funded also?

[Scunnered]

On council cuts... I'm not sure what Yes City have done to deserve this...

http://socialistworker.co.uk/art/39946/SNP+slams+%E2%80%98crude%E2%80%99+cuts%E2%80%94and+slashes+council+jobs

[Scunnered]

"The 'freeze' is a disgrace - just a crowd pleaser from the SNP. I'd gladly pay more to ease the strain on vital services."

The freeze is the best thing since sliced bread. If you want to pay more then fine, but for me I want to pay even less.

Why should I subsidise workers in their job? Do they subsidise me when in my profession? No would be the answer to that.

There's simply no need for cuts in front line services when councils employ highly paid chief execs and managers London standard wages with their gilt edged pensions.Cut these people down and keep front line services I say.

Local authorities in Scotland have around £1 billion stashed away in investments and needless to say they get compensated for theCT freeze, but choose to play with people jobs in the run up to an election.

"It's not been fully funded."

Has his failed redesigned of George Square been fully funded? Has his half million pound pay offs to his mates been fully funded also?

Have you considered activism? SNP North Ayrshire branch are looking for folk.

[AlfieMoon]

There's a genuine question over the balance required in centralisation/distribution of power in things such as the council tax and the consolidation of police and fire services.

I would question whether I would have confidence in councils to have the same drive and discipline to manage budgets to the same extent if they simply had the get out of being able to continually raise and further raise council taxes during times of austerity. At the end of the day - the easy fall back is always the taxpayer and that would simply have been the case again without the terms imposed by ScotGov for the council tax freeze.

[Orraloon]

What does council tax actually go towards paying? I've never really known what it funds compared to other forms of tax. Does it pay for local NHS services? Schools?

Council tax accounts for about 20 to 25% of local council budgets. One of the problems with increasing council tax to help pay for local services is that they would need to increase council tax by 20% to give an overall increase of 4 to 5% of the total council budget.

[AberdeenAngus]

"The 'freeze' is a disgrace - just a crowd pleaser from the SNP. I'd gladly pay more to ease the strain on vital services."

The freeze is the best thing since sliced bread. If you want to pay more then fine, but for me I want to pay even less.

Why should I subsidise workers in their job? Do they subsidise me when in my profession? No would be the answer to that.

There's simply no need for cuts in front line services when councils employ highly paid chief execs and managers London standard wages with their gilt edged pensions.Cut these people down and keep front line services I say.

Local authorities in Scotland have around £1 billion stashed away in investments and needless to say they get compensated for theCT freeze, but choose to play with people jobs in the run up to an election.

Is it all council workers conditions of employment you object to or just the Chief Executives?

[Scunnered]

Is it all council workers conditions of employment you object to or just the Chief Executives?

He specified 'workers', it's pretty damning. Hang him!

[Lamia]

This is one of the SNP policies I strongly disagree with. It is not the freeze per se but the fact that the process is top down. Local Government should have the power to raise its own income. Even before the freeze the element of income raising decided locally was small now it is non-existence.

The SNP spent the referendum campaign arguing that decisions about Scotland should be taken by the best people to do so being the people of Scotland but are not arguing in a similar vein about local government. It amazes me that they don't see the hypocrisy.

Sadly however local government is used as a political tool by Labour to try to undermine the Scottish Gov which is equally unhelpful. It saddens me that local government gets so caught up to such an extent in party politics.

[Lamia]

"The 'freeze' is a disgrace - just a crowd pleaser from the SNP. I'd gladly pay more to ease the strain on vital services."

The freeze is the best thing since sliced bread. If you want to pay more then fine, but for me I want to pay even less.

Why should I subsidise workers in their job? Do they subsidise me when in my profession? No would be the answer to that.

There's simply no need for cuts in front line services when councils employ highly paid chief execs and managers London standard wages with their gilt edged pensions.Cut these people down and keep front line services I say.

Local authorities in Scotland have around £1 billion stashed away in investments and needless to say they get compensated for theCT freeze, but choose to play with people jobs in the run up to an election.

Wow! You clearly have no clue

[hampden_loon2878]

Flure, you say one has no influence on the other

Do you know how much is collected by the council for water and sewage then:

How much is paid to Scottish Water by the council for water and sewage

The difference being the amount the council saves Scottish Water

It comea across as a cosy relationship between the council and a private company

No. the council set the council tax.

Scottish water set water and sewerage charges.

Neither has any influence over the other - but it's more efficient to collect all three charges at the one time.

[Charlie Endell]

This is one of the SNP policies I strongly disagree with. It is not the freeze per se but the fact that the process is top down. Local Government should have the power to raise its own income. Even before the freeze the element of income raising decided locally was small now it is non-existence.

The SNP spent the referendum campaign arguing that decisions about Scotland should be taken by the best people to do so being the people of Scotland but are not arguing in a similar vein about local government. It amazes me that they don't see the hypocrisy.

Sadly however local government is used as a political tool by Labour to try to undermine the Scottish Gov which is equally unhelpful. It saddens me that local government gets so caught up to such an extent in party politics.

[Auld_Reekie]

Completely agree. Centralist nonsense. The power of local authorities should be increased, not reduced. Far more needs to be raised from local taxation rather than rely on central government block grant. An almost like for like comparison with the Barnett Formula and Scottish Government.

I give the SNP some benefit of the doubt for at least they've been trying to talk about local taxation. Hopefully something credible can be agreed on in the next year or two.

[antidote]

@Scunnered. North Ayrshire is too far away.

@Aberdeenangus. Mostly middle management and above, which is very much bloated workforce.

@Lamia. Care to enlighten then? I now many people who work for the local council and they clue me up all the time.

[Orraloon]

This is one of the SNP policies I strongly disagree with. It is not the freeze per se but the fact that the process is top down. Local Government should have the power to raise its own income. Even before the freeze the element of income raising decided locally was small now it is non-existence.

The SNP spent the referendum campaign arguing that decisions about Scotland should be taken by the best people to do so being the people of Scotland but are not arguing in a similar vein about local government. It amazes me that they don't see the hypocrisy.

Sadly however local government is used as a political tool by Labour to try to undermine the Scottish Gov which is equally unhelpful. It saddens me that local government gets so caught up to such an extent in party politics.

It's a vote winner though. In general, folk don't want to pay more tax. Politicians, regardless on party, don't care about hypocrisy.

[Orraloon]

Completely agree. Centralist nonsense. The power of local authorities should be increased, not reduced. Far more needs to be raised from local taxation rather than rely on central government block grant. An almost like for like comparison with the Barnett Formula and Scottish Government.

I give the SNP some benefit of the doubt for at least they've been trying to talk about local taxation. Hopefully something credible can be agreed on in the next year or two.

I don't think they can tackle local government taxation until after we are independent. It would be electoral suicide, IMO.

[Jacobite]

The SNP did try before to reform local taxes.If I remember rightly the problem came from trying to factor in benefits.The Westminster Govt would not pay the £400 million council tax benefits that were being paid at the time.

An example of the importance of local government is the impact on the NHS. It falls on local govt to play a major part in clearing "blocked beds" in the NHS. I know the Scottish govt are trying to sort out the funding arguments between the NHS and local authorities however it shows the power that certain local authorities have over NHS figures.

[Lamia]

@Scunnered. North Ayrshire is too far away.

@Aberdeenangus. Mostly middle management and above, which is very much bloated workforce.

@Lamia. Care to enlighten then? I now many people who work for the local council and they clue me up all the time.

You should try adding up how many people you are talking about. I assume you agree LA need managers so even if you want to cut down on these wages you think are so high you won't make the full savings on all these post. Then have a look at the savings councils have been having to make and I think you will find that even if you did do away with all the higher management posts the amount saved would pale into insignificance in comparison to the funding cuts.

I would be interested to know how much you think someone should be paid for running a LA with all the services, staff and multiple challenges this job attracts?

You also seem to think Councils have been doing nothing on this front and just cutting services so you clearly have no clue. Councils have been cutting back on staff year on year including senior staff - my authority's Senior Management Team is significantly smaller than it was and I personally cannot see how that could be cut any further without an impact on the way the services are managed.

Saying it is all about well paid senior staff or council inefficiencies (another little gem) is a lazy argument which shows a significant level of ignorance.

[Bzzzz]

"The 'freeze' is a disgrace - just a crowd pleaser from the SNP. I'd gladly pay more to ease the strain on vital services."

The freeze is the best thing since sliced bread. If you want to pay more then fine, but for me I want to pay even less.

Why should I subsidise workers in their job? Do they subsidise me when in my profession? No would be the answer to that.

There's simply no need for cuts in front line services when councils employ highly paid chief execs and managers London standard wages with their gilt edged pensions.Cut these people down and keep front line services I say.

Local authorities in Scotland have around £1 billion stashed away in investments and needless to say they get compensated for theCT freeze, but choose to play with people jobs in the run up to an election.

This.

I too think the freeze us a good thing,I find it strange that some (who no doubt are playing politics) think the best way out of a recession is to take more money out of peoples pockets.

[Lamia]

This.

I too think the freeze us a good thing,I find it strange that some (who no doubt are playing politics) think the best way out of a recession is to take more money out of peoples pockets.

The money you pay in Council Tax does not disappear from the economy though. It either goes back in directly though council staff spending the wages paid from by Council Tax or indirectly though supporting communities in various way, employing contractors etc.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Lamia

[Charlie Endell]

The Accounts Commission says funding from central government is lower in real terms than it was three years ago.

I've been paying roughly the same amount for at least six or seven years, and that's not right. Just a small increase over that period would have made little or no difference to the vast majority of people.

Edited March 5, 2015 by Charlie Endell