Council Tax Proposals in the Scottish Election 2011

Citation

Bell D (2011) Council Tax Proposals in the Scottish Election 2011. Stirling Economics Discussion Paper, 2011-10.

Abstract
this paper looks at the proposals for taxing property put forward by the political parties prior to the May 2011 Scottish election. It examines the effects on the overall Scottish budget and also the distributional impacts on all households and pensioner households. It finds that there are very large negative effects on local authority budgets arising from a council tax freeze and the proposals for discounts to pensioners have complicated interactions with the council tax benefit system.

Keywords
council tax; council tax benefit; property tax; land value tax; local authorities; distribution; Scotland Social policy; Public welfare Scotland

JEL codes

• D10: Household Behavior: General
• D31: Personal Income, Wealth, and Their Distributions
• H24: Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies; includes inheritance and gift taxes