Unfair tax
I agree with Ian Steele (Letters, 15 August). The Scottish Government consultation about a proposed, eye watering increase in council tax for bands E-H is nothing more than the usual tick-box exercise.
Many old houses are in the higher tax bands but those properties are the ones which cost more in maintenance and heating and are often much-loved family homes which people do not want to leave in their old age. Why should they be driven out of their homes by excessive council tax charges when they are already struggling to exist on their pensions?
In rural areas we don’t even have the services which most people take for granted. Our roads are not maintained and are the last to get cleared and gritted; bin collection is often a hit or miss affair and can involve a long haul to the pick-up point. Every part of rural Scotland is currently being decimated by wind farms, commercial solar parks, giant pylons and other industrial paraphernalia resulting in many properties suffering a decrease in value or at worst, rendering them completely unsellable. Any property affected by these obscene developments should be having its council tax band reduced, not increased.
Aileen Jackson, Uplawmoor, East Renfrewshire
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