CONSERVATIVES will support local councils being able to vary thresholds of a key tax to take higher prices into account as an election manifesto pledge.
Ahead of the party’s manifesto launch on Thursday, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said his party would propose that local authorities can set different thresholds on Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) to take higher local prices into account.
The manifesto will include a pledge that councillors will support a raising of the national threshold for LBTT from £145,000 to £250,000.
Average prices vary across Scotland when it comes to homes, with parts of Glasgow and Edinburgh costing far higher than other areas.
In the party’s 2017 local elections manifesto, the Tories argued that LBTT “should be a tax retained locally” and pledged that “councils should have the power to introduce local relief schemes”.
Mr Ross has also outlined plans to increase targets on homebuilding to 25,000 new properties per year.
In a bid to reach that proposed higher target, the Scottish Conservatives are pushing for the doubling of the Rural Housing Fund.
The party said that doing so would help in incentivising construction in remote and rural communities.
Mr Ross highlighted the “unattainable dream” of owning property for many in Scotland, and added that more must be done to address the issue.
He said: “Every working person across Scotland should have the opportunity to buy their own home.
“For too many people, property ownership has become an unattainable dream. Skyrocketing house prices are making it unaffordable, even for families with good incomes.
“We have to do more to promote housebuilding because the best way to address the increases in house prices is to build more homes.
“Across Scotland, there is a real need for more affordable and high-quality homes.
“We are setting out proposals to increase housebuilding across Scotland that would make homes more affordable and provide a huge boost to local economies.
“Scottish Conservative councillors will support increasing the rate of housebuilding and encourage home ownership for more working people across Scotland.”
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