Something very eye-catching on Scottish income tax front |
There has been something eye-catching on the Scottish income tax front, writes Business Editor Ian McConnell.
You would just about have had to be off-planet to be unaware of the opposition of many business leaders to the greater income tax burden for higher earners in Scotland relative to their peers elsewhere in the UK.
So it was no surprise at all really to find out that a sizeable majority of members of the Institute of Directors (IoD) in Scotland expressed concern over this divergence on income tax in the business organisation’s latest State of the Nation survey published last Tuesday.
What was more eye-catching, particularly given the policy decisions of the Scottish Government since John Swinney was appointed First Minister and Kate Forbes became Deputy First Minister in May 2024, was the change in the proportion voicing concern.
And this movement was not a rise but a fall.
In IoD Scotland’s latest survey, 74.8% of respondents expressed concern with the way in which income tax policy diverged in Scotland from the rest of the UK.
This was down from 81% in the business organisation’s poll last year.
A rounded 43% expressed “serious” concern over this divergence in the latest survey. And a rounded 31% voiced “slight” concern. A rounded 25% declared “no concern”.
IoD Scotland said respondents had noted “the disparity between taxation in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK will seriously impact their abilities to attract investment and hire the necessary skilled workers”.
However, it was the........