Fife Council approves an 8.2% council tax rise despite government wishes to limit increases across Scotland.
This increase goes against John Swinney’s wishes. Swinney wanted to limit the rise of taxes. He said ten percent was too high.
Labour runs Fife, although the SNP has more council members. The rate announcements happened on a busy day, as Glasgow, Edinburgh, and others met Thursday. They discussed their budgets for 2025-26 and finalized their council tax plans.
East Lothian voted for a ten percent rise Tuesday. They were the first council in Scotland to do so and need the rise to keep up services.
The Scottish government stopped its tax freeze, but Swinney warned against big increases recently. Swinney says their budget helps councils and big tax increases aren’t necessary. He thinks ten percent is too high.
Humza Yousaf quickly announced a tax freeze in 2023. Swinney confirmed the freeze ended with the latest budget.
Swinney said councils got good funding. He implied they got a better deal than they thought, stating tax increases do not need to be so high.