| Comment | Part of the problem is to do with the council boundaries.
Glasgow City Council covers a disproportionately high number of deprived areas, which generate relatively little council tax revenue for the services they consume.
Meanwhile most of the richer suburbs are in other council areas, think of Bearsden/Milngavie in East Dumbartonshire, and Newton Mearns in East Renfrewshire. And they still use plenty of Glasgow facilities, like parks, museums, transit etc.
The government had the opportunity to fix this structural imbalance when the single-tier councils were created in the mid-1990s, but lumping the leafy suburbs in with the inner city was never going to be a vote winner. (Plus those suburbs were the few places in Scotland voting for the Tories at the time)
The difference in council tax costs is huge. I moved out of a tenement flat into a detached house (which was worth over twice as much) and ended up paying less council tax. Whilst I'm obviously happy with the reduction, it does seem a little unfair. Meanwhile Glasgow rots, as you've described. |
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