A Sunday Mail investigation has revealed that hard-working residents in Edinburgh and Glasgow are paying more council tax than super-rich homeowners in London.
As reported by Edinburgh Live's sister site the Daily Record, local authorities in both cities hiked up their annual charges by almost five per cent last week.
This move means that residents living in modest homes in the Scottish capital are paying more than those in multi-million pound London properties - where house prices are the most expensive in the UK.
A breakdown of the figures
Band E houses – which include thousands of homes valued between just £58,000 and £80,000 in 1991 – will now carry a council tax charge of £1758 in Edinburgh.
Meanwhile, in the City of Westminster - which is home to some of the priciest real estate in the country that regularly go for over £30 million - the top band H payment is surprisingly low in comparison, at just £1507.
Meanwhile, residents living in a home in the City of Westminster's classed as a middle band D pay an annual total of just £754.
Edinburgh Council £88 million in cuts
Edinburgh councillors have been faced with £88 million in cuts over the next three years.
The council's SNP-Labour coalition agreed a 4.79 per cent increase in council tax to tally up funding to build new high schools and have also pledged to spend £196 million developing former industrial land in the Granton area of the city.
In a bid to balance the books, leaders at Edinburgh City Council have a host of proposals to slice £35m from its finances in the next financial year, as well as £24m in the following year and £28m in 2022/23.
The plans include potential cuts to community policing, Edinburgh Leisure’s budget, school music tuition, nursery teachers and library opening hours – while under-pressure health and social care services will be told to make savings of up to £9.3m over the next three years.
.png?w=600)
