Scottish Budget 2025-26
The Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and its Low Incomes Tax Reform Group (LITRG) respond to the Finance and Public Administration Committee’s invitation to provide written evidence on the Scottish Budget 2025-26.
The Finance and Public Administration Committee of the Scottish Parliament are scrutinising the Scottish Budget 2025-26. The CIOT and LITRG have submitted written evidence to assist the committee in their work. Our evidence focuses on the Tax Strategy and tax policy in Scotland.
We welcome various aspects of the Tax Strategy, which was published alongside the Scottish Budget 2025-26. For example, the document includes important commitments:
- to renew consideration of changes to improve the legislative processes for devolved taxes in Scotland;
- to increase public awareness and understanding of Scottish taxes;
- to improve tax administration, including compliance;
- to develop a systematic programme of evaluation with a view to improving impact assessments and post-implementation evaluation.
We urge the Scottish Government to take action to make progress against the key elements of the Tax Strategy.