Scottish councils may be £200 million short on funding
Despite the very public policies announced by the SNP government in Scotland there is a growing feeling that a lack of funding for local councils is set to hit taxpayers hard in the short term. Just last year the SNP and the local councils agreed a zero rise in council tax and this had been expected to hold well into 2009. However as the SNP continues to load local councils with more and more services and less and less funding the problem is becoming more acute.
An increase in council taxes at this stage would blow the SNP local income tax plans out of the water and seriously damage the administration below the waterline. The SNP has all but staked its reputation on the success of the local income tax plan even though it has been challenged on a moral and legal basis. Alex Salmond has been able to talk local councils into his way of thinking but with funding differences of up to £200 million he certainly has his work cut out this year.
After a period of relative calm the Scottish economy is now come under serious pressure and unemployment is starting to rise.
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