Alexandra Docherty, partner at Johnston Carmichael considers the impact of the 45% tax rate on £75,000 plus earners and rise in top rate in Scotland
Many residents across the country have been writing their Christmas list asking Santa to give them a Christmas cracker in the shape of a tax rate reduction in the Scottish Budget, but instead some will have been left with a pre-Christmas tax hike.
Scottish finance minister Shona Robison introduced the 45% Scottish rate of income tax for those earning between £75,000 and £125,140 and explained that ‘those with the broadest shoulders are [being] asked to contribute a little more’.
On top of that those earning the most in Scotland did not go unscathed with a further increase of the top rate from 47% to 48% for those earning over £125,140. A Scottish resident taxpayer will now be juggling up to 12 different tax rates and 10 tax bands.
