MOST Scots don’t understand how devolved taxes work, according to a survey suggesting SNP ministers have failed to explain the powers they long demanded for Holyrood.
Commissioned by the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT), the poll found 84%of people felt they needed better information about how taxes are set in Scotland.
It found 60% struggled to understand the relationship between Scottish and UK taxes and 52% had little or no understanding of what it meant to be classed as a “Scottish taxpayer”.
Two-thirds of Scots didn’t know income tax is now the responsibility of both Westminster and Holyrood, and 57% didn’t know Land & Building Transaction Tax (LLBT) was fully devolved.
LBTT, the Holyrood version of stamp duty on properties, and Scottish Landfill Tax were the first taxes to be set by the Scottish Parliament in 300 years in 2015.
In 2016, a limited Scottish rate of income tax came into effect, and a year later a more flexible system of Scottish income tax rates and began was introduced.
This year, a new five-band system of Scottish income tax began, significantly increasing the difference between the UK and Scottish tax regimes.
The SNP says the changes have made Scotland the lowest taxed part of the UK, with those earning less than £26,000 a year pay less than south of the border.
However the survey found just 11% of those earning under £30,000 believed they were now paying less income tax.
Almost 40% of people thought their tax bill had risen in the last five years.
The survey was produced for the Scottish Taxes Policy Forum, a collaboration between the CIOT and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
It recommended a “more logical and consistent approach” to the devolution of tax powers, including a new permanent tax committee at Holyrood to aid public understanding.
Jim Robertson, chair of the Scottish Taxes Policy Forum, said: “The findings of this poll provide further evidence that the public is struggling to make sense of the tax powers that have been devolved to Holyrood and the changing nature of Scotland’s tax landscape.
“Scotland’s devolved tax journey has only recently begun but we hope that politicians and policy makers will take our report and the results of our polling and use these as the basis for a more informed debate about Scotland’s changing tax landscape”.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Following the changes introduced earlier this year, more than two-thirds of taxpayers will pay less this year under Scotland’s new tax bands on their current income.
“It’s important to note that more than half of Scottish taxpayers will be paying less tax than people earning the same income in the rest of the UK.”
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