Scottish ministers want to charge more council tax on any home worth over £1 million, and the Conservatives are already calling the idea a “performative proposal.”
The Scottish Government has opened a public consultation on two new council tax bands, I and J. Homes valued at between £1 million and £2 million would pay £720 a year more. Homes above £2 million would pay £3,600 more. About 15,000 of Scotland’s most expensive properties would be affected, and some bills would double to £7,700 a year.
The SNP put the so-called mansion tax in its budget plans earlier this year. It could raise up to £16 million, shared among Scotland’s 32 local authorities. That is a small sum next to the £3.5 billion councils are expected to collect in council tax in 2026/27. The consultation runs until August 24, and £5 million has been set aside to revalue every property thought to be worth more than £1 million. More than half of the £1 million homes sold in 2024/25 were in Edinburgh.
Conservatives: “lasting harm”
Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservatives’ finance spokesman, said the plan “falls down on closer inspection.” The new bands target a small minority of homes, he said, so “the revenues these new bands would bring in won’t touch the sides, and that’s before the administrative costs are factored in.”
He also warned that “punitive rates” could put buyers off Scotland, and that the tax would hit asset-rich, cash-poor owners, “such as widows on modest pensions who are still living in the family home.” In his words, a mansion tax “sounds superficially attractive but would actually do lasting harm to the housing market.” Hoy said ministers should cut welfare spending to fund councils instead.
Government and Greens
Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth defended the plan as a matter of fairness. “Our approach to tax is based on fairness – asking the wealthiest among us to contribute a bit more,” she said. She argued that this approach helps pay for free university tuition, free prescriptions and the SNP’s planned £2 cap on bus fares nationwide. All the extra money would stay with local government, she said, unlike the UK Government’s similar scheme, which would return revenue to the Treasury.
The Scottish Greens called the consultation a “significant step.” MSP Lorna Slater said it “can’t be the end of the conversation” and that “we need to go further to empower councils, reduce inequality and build a tax system that reflects people’s ability to pay.”
Council tax bands still rest on 1991 property valuations. Holyrood parties of all stripes support reforming that, but the SNP government has not yet put forward concrete plans.
