Scottish Budget increases higher rates of income tax

John Swinney deputy first minister delivered the Scottish government’s 2023-24 Budget on 15 December 2022. However his speech had been postponed for 30 minutes while questions were asked about potential briefings to media.

Key tax announcements from the Scottish Budget include:

• the starter (19%) basic (20%) and intermediate (21%) rates of income tax will be unchanged;
• the higher and top rates will be increased by 1 percentage point to 42% and 47% respectively from 6 April 2023;
• the starter basic intermediate and higher-rate thresholds will be frozen;
• the top-rate threshold (above which the 47% rate will apply) will be reduced from £150 000 to £125 140 from 6 April 2023 (mirroring the position for the rest of the UK)
• the residential and non-residential rates of the land and buildings transaction tax will be unchanged and the increased nil-rate band for first-time buyers will continue;
• the additional dwelling...