Council tax shortfall tops £100m

Glasgow had the country's lowest collection rate

Scotland's local authorities failed to collect more than £111m in council tax last year, figures have shown.

The Scotland-wide success rate for collection of the tax was almost 95%, a small improvement on the previous year.

The local government body Cosla described it as a "fabulous effort" but said further improvements would be more difficult.

Rates ranged from 97.7% in Orkney to 88% in Glasgow.

The government released £70m to local authorities this year to secure a council tax freeze.

The figures released by the Scottish Government suggested that 25 out of 32 councils had improved on their collection rates while four showed slight decreases but still remained above the Scotland average.

More difficult

Councillor Graeme Morrice, Cosla's finance spokesman, said: "Councils will once more endeavour to build on this success next year, but as we move towards 100% it obviously becomes more difficult as we are moving towards a section of the community that go out of their way not to pay council tax."

He added: "All too often in the past, despite our success, councils have been blamed for not collecting outstanding debt. But let's be clear - it is not uncollected, it is unpaid, and there is a massive difference between the two."

Finance Secretary John Swinney added: "For as long as we have the council tax, it should be collected properly - improvements in council tax collection will add to the resources available to councils.

"However that shouldn't hide the fact that the council tax is unfair and regressive."

But the Conservatives said the figures showed that council tax could work and that "there is no guarantee that similar levels of collection could be achieved under a 'local' income tax".