Council tax bills will be announced on Thursday

All 32 councils will unveil their new charges on Thursday, and a survey for Sunday Live discovered that the average increase was expected to be about 5%.

People living in Moray are set to face the largest rise, with bills expected to increase by 15%.

Finance Minister Andy Kerr said he would have "grave concerns" about any increases excessively above 5%.

The lowest projected council tax increase was in Argyll and Bute, where a rise of 2.9% is expected.

In the cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh are unlikely to see bills go up by more than 4%, while Aberdeen could see a 7% increase.

PROJECTED COUNCIL TAX INCREASES Aberdeen - 6-7% Aberdeenshire - 5% Angus - Not available (N/A) Argyll and Bute - 2.9% Clackmannanshire - N/A Dumfries and Galloway - 4.9% Dundee - 5% East Ayrshire - 4.9% East Dunbartonshire - 5.6% East Lothian - 5% East Renfrewshire - 5% Edinburgh - 4% Falkirk - 5% Fife - 3.5% Glasgow - 4% Highland - 5.1% Inverclyde - 5% Midlothian - 5% Moray - 15% North Ayrshire - N/A North Lanarkshire - N/A Orkney - 4.5% Perth and Kinross - 4.5% Renfrewshire - 5% Scottish Borders - 5.4% Shetland - 7.2% South Ayrshire - 5% South Lanarkshire - 3.8% Stirling - 4% West Dunbartonshire - 3% West Lothian - 4.5% Western Isles - 5%

The rise in Moray is being recommended mainly to deal with local issues such as roads maintenance and flood prevention schemes.

Mr Kerr said he saw no reason why any council would have to increase their tax by 15%.

"I hope that the average rate of increase is going to be 5%," he told Sunday Live.

"Anything excessively over that I have grave concerns about - but let's see what Thursday brings."

The minister said projected increases he had received from councils averaged about 5%.

"There was nobody on that list around 15%," he said.

Mr Kerr would not be drawn on whether he would consider capping councils.

However, he said he would have to look "very closely" at the conduct of any council which introduced a rise of 15% or 16% and would be seeking explanations for their actions.

Pensioners charity Help the Aged is planning to call on the Scottish Parliament to reform the council tax system.

Income-based tax

It will launch a petition later this month, urging the creation of an expert body to examine the fairness of the existing system and look at the viability of replacements.

Help the Aged believes that pensioners are being "unfairly discriminated against" under the council tax.

Many political parties are in favour of scrapping the current charges and replacing them with an income-based tax.

But the local authority organisation, Cosla, is against any radical reform.

It argues that change is necessary to re-value homes and update the system of banding properties.