Calman calls for new Scottish-set income tax
29 Jun 09
The Calman Commission, which was set up to review the experience of Scottish devolution since 1998, has issued its final report
It recommends that Holyrood should take charge of half the income tax raised in Scotland, and that insolvency laws should be re-reserved under UK law.
The Commission noted that ICAS had questioned the necessity of duplicating insolvency work in Scotland and had expressed concern about the potential this allows for divergence in policy and practice. ICAS argued that this was unhelpful in a field in which businesses operate across the UK, supported by lenders who also operate common policies across different jurisdictions.
The key recommendation in the long-awaited report, chaired by former chief medical officer Sir Kenneth Calman, called for a new Scottish-set income tax.
It proposed that the UK Treasury should deduct 10p from standard and upper rates of income tax in Scotland and give MSPs the power to decide how to raise cash.
The new powers would be combined with a cut in the block grant, currently about £32bn, which Scotland gets from the UK Government.
A steering group has been set up to take the recommendations forward.