A few shocked property owners are contacting councillors after being asked to pay four times Council Tax. This could be a bill for as much as £16,000.
Even for the mis-termed “average” Band D it means an eye-watering £6500 hitting those with “long-term empty” properties or “second homes”.
For most councillors these pariahs are the hated rich who are depriving others of a home. But, as always with tax policy, it’s not as simple as that.
There are only 2500 empty homes in Edinburgh which is less than 1 per cent of the 262k total and lower than the rate for Scotland as a whole.
With a lot of heritage properties, many will simply be taking longer than the year allowed to refurbish. Others can take a while to bring back into use after a bereavement. This is part of the normal turnover rather than a social ill that needs a punishment.
There are even fewer second homes at only 1400, but the assumption by the Greens and Lib Dems is that these are all the pieds a terre of the super wealthy.
Except that our MSPs showed this week that isn’t the case. The same MSPs who allowed councils to hike this premium voted that the taxpayer should cover it for their second homes in Edinburgh for Parliamentary purposes.
Even if just half the MSPs have one, that’s almost 5 per cent of the second homes in Edinburgh.
Many of the rest will be owned by people who are from Edinburgh but work elsewhere and want to return one day. Or people who need to be able to visit family for caring reasons.
The Council Tax is a mix of a property tax and a charge for services, not a wealth tax. The 25 per cent discount for single people takes account of them using fewer services.
Empty and second homes use even less, which is why the original legislation gave discounts, not premiums.
The successful push by the Lib Dems to hike these Council Tax premiums to four times will have a negligible effect on the city’s 9000 homeless households but might push others into financial hardship.
It’s nothing more than a mis-directed imposition of the politics of envy.