NICOLA Sturgeon has refused to rule out household property tax rises as the price of another Budget deal with the Scottish Greens.
With the Greens already making “local tax reform” a precondition for talks on the 2019-20 Budget, the First Minister was asked whether tax rises were a possibility.
However she dodged the question and attacked the Conservatives instead.
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On Wednesday, the minority SNP government and the Greens struck a deal on the 2018-19 Budget, which will see a range of reforms to income tax, with higher bills for top earners.
Green co-convener Patrick Harvie then laid down a pre-condition for the 2019-20 budget.
He said: “We will be unable to enter negotiations on next year’s budget, unless meaningful progress has been made on local tax reform. Local tax reform can wait no longer.”
The Greens want to replace council tax with a locally-set residential property tax based on around 1 per cent of a home’s value.
Phased in over five years, the new tax would mean increases for Band D homes and above, with bills for Band G homes doubling, and tripling for Band H homes.
A Green policy document for the 2016 Holyrood election suggested a Band D home paying around £1150 council tax would pay £1500 under a full residential property tax regime.
A Band G home currently paying £1900 would pay almost £4000, and a Band H home paying £2300 would see its bill rise to almost £8000.
The SNP manifesto promised to cap council tax increases at 3 per cent from 2017, and said there would be “no change for three out of every four Scottish households”.
However the SNP manifesto also included a pledge to freeze the 20p basic rate of income tax for the parliament, a promise ditched to secure the 2018-19 Budget.
Ms Davidson said the Green demand meant tax hikes for hundreds of thousands of Scots.
“Surely, even for the First Minister, that would be a tax rise too far. Will she rule it out?”
Ms Sturgeon said council tax bills were lower in average in the other parts of the UK, with increases capped at 3 per cent, but did not address possible future changes.
She said: “We are interested in protecting our public services, we are interested in ensuring that we have the revenue to invest in world-class infrastructure and business support, and we want to protect the most vulnerable in our society from the impact of Ruth Davidson’s Tory cuts, particularly to welfare.
“All that Ruth Davidson is interested in is tax cuts for the very richest in our society.
“That is the difference. She is on the wrong side of public opinion and perhaps that is why her party has hit the buffers.”
Mr Davidson said: “The Greens got the SNP’s budget through last year, and they got it through this year. Patrick Harvie has made it pretty clear his price for next year’s budget will be hiking up council tax.
“Nicola Sturgeon had ample opportunity to rule this out, but refused. That will set alarm bells ringing in the homes of thousands of families right across the country.”
Mr Harvie called Ms Sturgeon’s response “defensive” and repeated his demand for reform.
He said: “Council tax is outdated and unfair, and the restrictions government places on councils’ ability to raise revenue is doubly unfair. SNP Ministers have repeatedly stalled on reform of local powers over tax, which could help protect public services.
"The defensive response from the First Minister is a worry but in our view local tax reform can wait no longer.”
Ms Sturgeon’s official spokesman later refused to guarantee local tax policy would stay constant throughout the parliament, saying it was too early to talk about the 2019-20 budget.
Councillor David Ross, Labour leader on council umbrella group Cosla, said the extra funding in the Budget was “a sticking plaster” that did little for vital local services.
He said: “Cosla has estimated that local government needs another £545m to maintain services on top of the £170m announced by Finance Secretary Derek Mackay on Wednesday, and this additional funding falls well short of what is required.”