Achi news desk-
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One of the big changes in Scotland’s fiscal landscape for this year is a new higher income tax band, which will apply a rate of 45% on annual income between £75,000 and £125,140.
An extra 1 pence will be added to the top rate of tax which means that income over £125,140 will be taxed at 48%.
The initial and basic rate bands will increase in line with inflation and the Higher rate threshold will be maintained at £43,662.
That means any Scottish taxpayers earning less than £28,867 will pay less tax than taxpayers in the rest of the UK.
But the difference for those who earn more will be greater.
Those on between £75,000 and £125,140 will pay up to £5,232 more than anywhere else in the UK.
Around 49% of Scottish taxpayers will pay more tax than workers south of the border.
However, the SNP said the council tax freeze means the average Band D council tax in Scotland will remain at £1,417 for 2024/25.
In England, households will see an average increase of 5.1% in council tax, taking the bill for Band D properties to £2,171.
In Wales, an increase of 7.7% on average will mean that Band D properties pay, on average, £2,024.
The average annual water bill will cost £444 in Scotland, and £473 in England and Wales.
The SNP said this would mean “the average household in Scotland pays £783 less a year than the average household in Tory-run England, and £636 less than the equivalent household in Wales which is run by Labour.”
The party’s spokesperson on Social Justice, David Linden, said: “By freezing council tax and the public water company, Scots are paying up to £780 less than residents of England and Wales.
“This is on top of free university tuition, free prescriptions, free baby boxes, free dental checks and seven welfare payments unique to Scotland, including Scottish Child Payment.
“These are the values of Scotland.
“However, although we remain under Westminster control, Scotland can only go so far – and shockingly that will continue to be true under a Labor government, given that Sir Keir Starmer has committed to tax plans and Tory spending, has turned a corner on Brexit renegotiation and refused to give more powers to the Scottish parliament.”
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Labour’s finance spokesman, Michael Marra, said: “Behind the SNP’s desperate spin is the fact that they are raising taxes on nurses and plumbers to pay for their own failure to grow the economy.
“With the SNP raising taxes on workers while opposing a random tax on oil and gas giants, it’s clear they are not on the side of working people.
“Only Scottish Labor will deliver the growth we need and put money in the pockets of working people.”
Conservative Scottish finance and local government secretary Liz Smith said Scots were “paying more and getting less” under the SNP.
He said: “In a desperate effort to hide their backs from the mess they have made of the country’s finances, the SNP are about to hit hard-pressed Scots with even higher taxes.
“While they continue to play the game of blame and finger pointing in Westminster, they choose to ignore the fact that the new financial year will see the tax gap widen even further between the Scotland and the rest of the UK.
“Their claim that this tax increase will improve public services is completely wrong – their catastrophic mismanagement of Scotland’s finances has left our public services completely overwhelmed and over the top.”
