Mr Wightman says it is shameful the SNP are not getting rid of this shameful and regressive tax.

Scottish Green MSP Andy Wightman says his party have previously agreed the current system cannot go on and the opportunity to make changes cannot be missed.

Mr Wightman says council tax arrears are causing problems for his constituents and across Scotland.

He says the government have yet to respond or do anything about this. 

The Greens MSP says this is within the government's power to sort out. 

The Scottish Greens are to press for a council tax revaluation when MSPs debate reform of local taxation.

The party's Andy Wightman will argue that most properties across Scotland are currently in the wrong band.

Image source, PA

A revaluation is not part of plans for council tax changes proposed by the Scottish government.

The reforms will see the average band E household pay about £2 more per week, with those in the highest band paying an extra £10 a week.

Ms Baillie says: "SNP austerity is austerity on stilts."

The Labour MSP says she fears for local government's future.

Ms Baillie says the "SNP simply tinkering with the bands" and keeping the hated council tax is a "delicious irony".

Local Government Minister Kevin Stewart intervenes at length saying the Scottish government has only just begun.

Ms Baillie says the intervention was a speech and says she'll take no lessons from Mr Stewart.

Scottish Labour MSP Jackie Baillie says the SNP have previously said they would scrap the council tax and make the system fairer in previous manifesto.

They have "broken promises", she says.

Ms Baillie says the current proposals are "timid". 

Mr Fraser says his party disagrees with changes to Bands E and F as these are often modest households.

The Tory MSP says the government proposal to take the money from local authorities and put it to closing the education attainment gap have been met with "outrage" from councils.

He says this party would raise funding of £30m from Bands G and H alone, for councils to spend.

Mr Fraser says the SNP's efforts to centralise must be challenged.

Mr Fraser says the SNP dropped the idea of a local income tax.

The Tory MSP says his party has supported the nine years of a council tax freeze imposed by the SNP.

He says the latest attempt to establish tax reform was the Commission on Local Tax Reform.

Mr Fraser says we are yet to hear a better plan than the council tax.

Scottish Green Party co-convener Patrick Harvie asks is it should be focused on an antiquated evaluation system.

Mr Fraser says he accepts the point but it would be "expensive and bureaucratic".

Scottish Conservative MSP Murdo Fraser says his own party has a chequered past in relation to local taxation, referring to the poll tax.

He says the community charge was popular, tongue full in cheek and says there was then the council tax we have now.

Mr Fraser says the council tax has advantages and disadvantages.

He says there has been no revaluation since it was introduced.

Image source, Scottish Parliament

Local Government Minister Kevin Stewart will now lead a member's debate on reforming local taxation.

Labour MSP Jackie Baillie says what would local government do if the local tax fell.

Mr Mackay says he wants to have that discussion with local government.

The finance secretary says the council tax regulations he has laid deliver council tax changes and changes to the council tax reduction scheme.

Mr Mackay says the government will engage with local authorities and other political party on local taxation reform.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay says the government are embarking on work concerning a potential levy on derelict land to stop land banking.

The average annual increase in council tax as a result of the band adjustments announced by Ms Sturgeon earlier this year will be:

• band E - £105
• band F - £207
• band G - £335
• band H - £517

Image source, THINKSTOCK

Perhaps they could compose a pipe tune. 'The SNP's Retreat from Local Income Tax.' Maybe they could play it at the Tattoo.

In truth, it has been a long, slow retreat. In 2007, the SNP manifesto was explicit. The "unfair" council tax would be scrapped, with a local income tax set at 3p.

By 2011, the approach was more nuanced. The SNP promised to "consult with others to produce a fairer system based on ability to pay to replace the council tax and we will put this to the people at the next election, by which time Scotland will have more powers over income tax".

Opponents, naturally, seize upon that word "replace" in describing today's announcement as a broken promise.

By no stretch, they argue, can Nicola Sturgeon's plan be said to "replace" council tax. Supporters of the SNP say the reforms will be "a fairer system based on ability to pay".

Politically, ministers reckon they can put up with invective from their party opponents - even sustained invective - as long as the reforms are seen by voters, in general, as broadly fair. Universal support is not feasible in this troubled world.

Douglas Fraser
Scotland business & economy editor

Analysis from our economy editor last December: 

It's called "Just Change: a New Approach to Local Taxation". The word 'just' may be a call for fairness.

But the first time I read the title of the report published this week, it seemed like a cry of exasperation, as in "for goodness sake, just make a change, and stop faffing about".

It's more than eight years since Jack McConnell led Scottish Labour out of power with a shambling failure to find an alternative to the council tax.

Image source, PA

Alex Salmond led his party into government with a promise to "ditch the hated council tax". That wasn't just any pledge. That was his main one. But instead of ditching it, he froze it.

It remains frozen, and if the freeze is continued into next financial year (John Swinney will tell us in his draft budget this week), the cumulative cost in next year's budget will be £630m.

That comprises £70m given to local authorities for each year that the freeze has been in place.