§ Sir David SteelTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what representations he has received concerning the overstepping of maximum charges for bands in the transitional reduction scheme of the council tax; and what proposals he has to prevent such occurrence.
§ Mr. LangI have received a number of representations from MPs and members of the public about the difference532W between the actual council tax, set by local authorities, and the adjusted council tax used by local authorities to calculate entitlement to transitional reduction.
The sole purpose of the transitional reduction scheme is to moderate increases in local tax bills arising as a consequence of the change in tax system and it is not intended to protect taxpayers from increases arising for other reasons. The level of adjusted council tax used to determine relief is calculated according to a prescribed formula. This formula takes account of what each local authority might need to spend on services in 1993–94 but makes no allowance for past deficits and assumes a council tax collection level of 98 per cent. Where local authorities budget responsibly and have good records of tax collection, the actual and adjusted taxes should be very close to each other and may be identical. This is the case in a number of areas in Scotland. Where this is not the case, taxpayers may wish to ask their local authority for an explanation.