Trade union giant Unite has urged the SNP to begin a tax revolution.

Its Scottish General-Secretary, Pat Rafferty, said he believed only radical rises in oncome tax would address the inequalities emerging from The Herald's revelations on executive pay.

We revealed that Scotland's top chief executives are pocketing pay packets worth more than 24 times the salary of the average worker, The highest paid CEO among the 39-strong cohort was Ross McEwan of Royal Bank of Scotland, who earned £3.5 million last year despite the bank posting a loss of £7 billion. His salary is the equivalent to that banked by 152 average workers.

Mr Rafferty, writing in The Herald, said: "If the Scottish Government had the courage to use its taxation owers radically that could become

an inspirational reality.

"Unite Scotland recognises that a

Scottish tax revolution is our only

hope."

"Inequality is one of the great

shrines where the Tories worship so

it’s inconceivable they’ll do anything

that makes a real difference.

"They think the rich don’t have

enough money and the poor have too

much."

Unite backs Labour, which has the same policy.

The SNP has warned that extra tax may not yield extra income under a devolved settlement.

Ash Denham, an MSP, said: The SNP’s position is very clear. We back a 50p top rate of tax across the UK, but to do it in Scotland alone with our current powers could risk losing millions of pounds in revenues given the possibility of cross-border tax avoidance."