More than 5,000 households in Dundee have been reported to debt collectors for non-payment of council tax.
But a national watchdog has warned the local authority that it needs to cut council tax to make it more affordable.
New figures reveal that in the current financial year, 5,323 households are being chased by the city council for unpaid tax with an average outstanding amount of £436.88.
A spokeswoman for Dundee City Council confirmed that the cases of more than 5,000 city properties had been handed to professional debt collectors and claimed that only happened as a last resort.
She added: “We try to encourage as many people as possible to pay by making it easy for them to do so, for example by direct debit or by paying online.
“We have a legal duty to do everything we can to recover outstanding debt. The council makes every effort to collect cumulative money owed, and we take the issue of debt recovery very seriously.”
The figures show that at the end of the previous financial year more than 8,000 Dundonians owed council tax. The total unpaid tax owed for the same period was £3,577,626 an average of £405 per household.
However, Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Everybody must pay what they owe, but Dundee City Council must do everything it can to make it easier for people to pay.
“That means being flexible about how people pay, being responsive to the needs of certain groups who may not be able to use the internet and, above all, by cutting council tax so that ratepayers can more easily afford to pay.”