Scottish Budget reaction

Ellen Milner, CIOT Director of Public Policy, said:

“Ministers were limited by their commitment to leave income tax rates and bands unchanged before the Scottish elections, so changing the thresholds where different tax rates kick in was the most we could have expected to see.

“Increasing the thresholds for the basic and intermediate rates mean the point taxpayers start paying more income tax than someone on the same salary elsewhere in the UK will increase to £33,493.

“Compared with the current tax year, this represents a maximum saving of £31.75 next year.

“Despite suggestions that a fix might be found, the national insurance anomaly affecting Scottish taxpayers remains unaddressed. Taxpayers with earnings between the Scottish and UK higher rate thresholds will continue to pay a marginal rate of tax of 50%, compared to 28% elsewhere in the UK.

“The presumption that other thresholds will remain at their current levels until 2029 suggests that more people will continue to be pushed into higher rates of tax as wages grow and thresholds stay where they are.

“Taken together, today’s limited tax changes retain a system that is more generous to those on lower incomes and increasingly less so for those higher up the income scale”.

ENDS

^{Comparison of UK and Scotland for 2026/27}

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