Councils in Scotland should have 'complete control' over council tax and business rates and have the power to scrap them and introduce new taxes, according to a leading think tank.
Reform Scotland said devolution has actually reduced the amount of control local authorities have over taxation.
The suggestions came in a briefing to coincide with the think tank's submissions to the Scottish Government / COSLA Commission on Local Tax Reform and the Conservatives’ Independent Commission for Competitive and Fair Taxation in Scotland.
Reform Scotland’s director Geoff Mawdsley said: 'Devolution was never supposed to stop at Holyrood. However, Holyrood has reduced control in some areas that used to be local authority responsibilities, and one of those is local taxation.
'Scotland is significantly behind other similarly-sized countries in the area of local devolution. The Scandinavian countries, for instance, have far more tax income controlled at a local level. Restoring genuine local fiscal responsibility should be our aim.
'Our local authorities have become powerless to make a real difference to their local communities because they have no real control over the amount of money they tax and spend.
'It is time to give them the ability to make a difference, and the starting point on the road to genuine local fiscal responsibility is to give councils complete control over council tax and business rates.'
