With Moray set to raise council tax, the controversial decision could potentially have huge political ramifications for the whole of Scotland.

The council will become the first to hike council tax in nearly a decade, defying the Scottish Government's freeze - reports indicate that Fife may up rates in the near future too.

In a bid to meet an £11m deficit over the next financial year, Moray Council would increase council tax bills by between £136 and £408.

It's the system of local taxation used to part-fund services provided by local authorities.

It is normally collected over a period of ten months, with a separate annual charge for using public water and sewerage. This is collected by the local authority with the council tax and passed on to Scottish Water.

Scottish ministers believe that the current system of local taxation is "unfair" and are looking into the future of local taxation.

In 1993, through the Local Government Finance Act, council tax raised around £1.9bn in authorities across Scotland.

It replaced the community charge ("poll tax").

The responsibility for setting council tax rests with the local authority, however the Scottish Government has worked with councils to freeze tax since 2007.

The sum you pay depends on the band a household falls into, which can be the lowest band A up to band H, and is worked out from the band D rate.

Discounts on council tax can be made for single person households, disabled persons, students and other groups through special provisions.

For instance, people with low incomes may be eligible for help through the Council Tax Reduction scheme, which was first administered by local authorities in 2013.

Previously, individuals could apply for reductions through Council Tax Benefit which was scrapped by the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition in April 2013, as part of a welfare reform programme.

It resulted in a 10% cut to funds overall, however the Scottish Government and Convention of Local Authorities (CoLA) together provided an additional £40m in funding per year, from 2013 - 15. The government has pledged this will continue until 2017.

Here are just a few of the services council tax goes towards.

Between 2015-16 Glasgow City Council used £250.6m from council tax to pay for a £1510m budget - the rest of which came from governent grants.

The highest spend for that year was in education at £525.9m, followed by social work (£427.5m) and other services (£186.6m).

A spokesperson from Citizens Advice said: "When you have not paid an instalment of council tax on the date it is due, your local authority must issue a reminder, asking for payment within seven days.

"If you fail to pay within this period, you lose the right to pay by instalments and a full year's council tax becomes payable.

"When you have not paid an instalment of council tax within 28 days of the date it is due, the local authority may apply to the sheriff court for a summary warrant to show you are liable to pay the arrears.

"It must offer you time to pay the debt. If you cannot reach an agreement with the authority to pay off the arrears, or you can't keep to the payments under the time to pay order, the authority can enforce the summary warrant by making deductions from your income support, jobseekers allowance, employment and support allowance or wages or having sheriff officers seize your goods to the value of the amount owed. Many of your possessions will be exempt from seizure.

"If you are in arrears of council tax, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau."

Council leader Councillor Stewart Cree said the councils funding allocation announced last month by finance secretary John Swinney had put services seriously under threat.

Moray will forfeit £1.1m from their current allocation to offset the council tax freeze. However, they stand to raise £5m over the next year by increasing the tax.

Councillor Cree said: "in light of the scale of the deficit we are facing, this £1.1m pales into insignificance when the only alternative would be further cuts to services or even the loss of some services altogether.

"That said I have written to Mr Swinney about our concerns and I look forward to his response. I believe the people of Moray will understand our dilemma and that they will be prepared to pay a reasonable increase in council tax in order to see their services and facilities maintained."