West Lothian’s new council tax bands detailed, amidst rising costs. See how much residents will pay per property band annually.
Other councils might do the same thing. North Lanarkshire could see a 10% increase. Edinburgh’s council tax could rise by 8%.
SNP and Tory councillors spoke about West Lothian’s costs. National Insurance and rising thresholds added extra costs. This happened at a council meeting on Tuesday.
Here are West Lothian’s new annual charges. Band A costs £1010.30. Band B costs £1178.77. Band C costs £1347.24. Band D costs £1515.45.
Band E costs £1991. Band F costs £2462.98. Band G costs £2968.95. Band H costs £3712.
Council leader Lawrence Fitzpatrick spoke at a meeting. He knows people worry about the 8.95% increase. Leaders don’t enjoy raising council tax so much. He said the average increase is about 8.5% in Scotland.
Why is this happening, you may ask? He explained ten years of frozen council tax caused issues. Inflation and wage raises created big budget problems. That budget shortfall totaled £172 million.
He also said councils got 28.62% of a Westminster grant in 2007/8. In 2024/25, councils got 21.38%. That’s a 25% cut since the SNP took control. Everything gets blamed on Westminster, he added.