Scottish Budget 2022 Summary

The Scottish Finance Minister, John Swinney, delivered his government’s budget against the most turbulent economic and financial context most people can remember, with Mr Swinney commenting that at no stage since the reconvening of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 have the conditions been more volatile and the economic dangers more severe.

Reflecting on a difficult set of choices for the Scottish Government, which must decide whether to invest or to scale back, Mr Swinney said he had chosen not to follow the path of austerity so the government would invest in order to eradicate child poverty, enable the economy to transition to Net Zero and create sustainable public services using the additional funds available by increasing the rate of income tax for those on higher incomes, and increasing the Additional Dwellings Supplement (“ADS”) component of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax.

Accordingly, for those residing in Scotland the rate of tax for higher and top rate taxpayers will increase by 1% to 42% and 47% respectively, with all thresholds being frozen except the top rate tax threshold, which will be reduced from £150,000 to £125,140 from April 2023.

Collectively, these measures will raise an additional an additional £519 million, with the increased ADS raising a further £34 million.