The Scottish government has published its ‘Programme for Scotland 2017/18’, setting out policy and legislative plans for the coming parliamentary session.
These include plans to publish a discussion paper on income tax and possible options, presumably including increases in the Scottish rate, for using the government’s devolved powers to ensure ‘the sustainability of our public services and give long-term certainty to taxpayers’.
The government also intends to seek additional powers and ‘explore how responsibility for a broader range of taxes would enable the Scottish Parliament to take more balanced budget decisions, grow the economy and tackle poverty more effectively’.
The legislative programme includes 16 new Bills, among them:
· Budget Bill, covering matters such as spending plans and setting devolved taxes; and
· Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Bill, giving retrospective effect to the application of the LBTT (Additional Amount – Second Homes Main Residence Relief) (Scotland) Order, SSI 2017/233, which provides for relief where spouses, civil partners or cohabitants jointly buy a home to replace a home that was owned by only one of them. The Bill will enable taxpayers to claim repayment of the LBTT additional dwelling supplement on relevant transactions which occurred prior to 30 June 2017, the effective date of the order.
The Scottish government has published its ‘Programme for Scotland 2017/18’, setting out policy and legislative plans for the coming parliamentary session.
These include plans to publish a discussion paper on income tax and possible options, presumably including increases in the Scottish rate, for using the government’s devolved powers to ensure ‘the sustainability of our public services and give long-term certainty to taxpayers’.
The government also intends to seek additional powers and ‘explore how responsibility for a broader range of taxes would enable the Scottish Parliament to take more balanced budget decisions, grow the economy and tackle poverty more effectively’.
The legislative programme includes 16 new Bills, among them:
· Budget Bill, covering matters such as spending plans and setting devolved taxes; and
· Land and Buildings Transaction Tax Bill, giving retrospective effect to the application of the LBTT (Additional Amount – Second Homes Main Residence Relief) (Scotland) Order, SSI 2017/233, which provides for relief where spouses, civil partners or cohabitants jointly buy a home to replace a home that was owned by only one of them. The Bill will enable taxpayers to claim repayment of the LBTT additional dwelling supplement on relevant transactions which occurred prior to 30 June 2017, the effective date of the order.
