Scotland's councils owed £100m in unpaid tax

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-33147456

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Councils across Scotland are owed nearly £100m in unpaid council tax from last year, according to official figures.

The latest statistics show that councils across Scotland are now collecting more of the money they are due.

Nationally, the collection rate for the tax rose again slightly to a figure of 95.4%.

The lowest collection rate was in Dundee, where it stood at 93%.

Councils say anyone who has difficulty paying their council tax should contact them as early as possible to discuss possible solutions.

For many years the collection rate for the council tax was relatively low - in part the legacy of deliberate non payment of the community charge or poll tax in the early 1990s.

In 2004 the collection rate in Glasgow was just 85%. Now it is almost 95%.

Budget pressure

The areas with the highest collection rates included Stirling, East Renfrewshire and Orkney, where it was about 97%.

The pressure on local authority budgets in recent years has made it more vital than ever for councils to collect as much council tax as possible.

It has been hard for some to make further major improvements in payment rates in recent years.

However, some say schemes to make it easier to pay - for instance spreading payments over 12 months instead of 10 - have helped people on tight budgets avoid arrears.

The figures also show that councils are still owed 3% of the council tax they should have been paid in 2004/05.

Poll tax arrears from the early 1990s were officially written off by the Scottish government earlier this year.

Councils are still entitled to pursue historic council tax arrears. However, in practice, there are often questions about whether the time and effort involved to recover what may be relatively small amounts from several years ago are the best use of resources.