Remove powers to vary income tax rates from the Scottish Parliament
12,642 people signed this petition to the UK Parliament after it opened on 8 January 2024; it closed on 29 May 2024. The Government responded on 9 September 2024.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Remove powers to vary income tax rates from the Scottish Parliament
Repeal the powers on income tax given to the Scottish Parliament as part of the Scotland Act 2012, so that Scottish rates of income tax can be aligned back to those set by the UK Government.
The Scottish Government is creating a widening gap between tax thresholds in Scotland compared to the rest of the UK. We believe this has created a more complex and unfair tax system, and create an increasing divide between the UK nations.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 9 September 2024; the petitions site lists the Scotland Office as responsible. Its summary:
The UK Government remains committed to devolution and the government has no plans to alter the devolution settlement to remove income tax powers.
The opening 374 words of the 467-word response:
A referendum on Scottish devolution was held on 11 September 1997, with 74% voting in favour of a Scottish Parliament and 63% voting for the Parliament to have powers to vary the basic rate of income tax. Since the passage of the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish devolved institutions and devolution settlement, further powers have been devolved to both the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government through the 2012 and 2016 Scotland Acts.
Following the decision made by the people of Scotland the 2014 referendum to remain part of the United Kingdom, then Prime Minister David Cameron made clear that commitments made by the three main pro-Union parties to devolve further powers to the Scottish Parliament would be taken forward by a new cross-party commission chaired by Lord Smith of Kelvin. On 27 November 2014, the Smith Commission published its final report detailing the Heads of Agreement on further devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament.
The Scotland Act 2016 delivers on the recommendations made by the Smith Commission, and in particular devolved further income tax powers including the power to set rates and bands on earned income; this built upon commitments made in the Scotland Act 2012, which included devolving the ability of the Scottish Parliament to set a Scottish Rate of Income Tax.
The UK Government remains fully committed to devolution and to implementing the Smith Commission’s recommendations. The UK Government continues to work collaboratively with the Scottish Government to implement the Scotland Act 2016, which includes passing secondary legislation to deliver the extensive welfare granted by the Act.
Since 6 April 2017, the Scottish Parliament has had the power to set the income tax rates and bands applicable to Scottish taxpayers on their non-savings and non-dividend income. The rates and bands are set each year in the Scottish Rate Resolution. The Scottish block grant is adjusted to reflect the change in funding stream in the manner set out in the 2016 Fiscal Framework agreement between the UK Government and the Scottish Government, which was further updated in July 2023 following agreement between both governments. The Scottish Government is able to exercise its fiscal powers fully and flexibly while operating within a sustainable fiscal framework for the whole of the UK.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions.json?state=with_response&page=32UK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
4b7bcb1838846cd1… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
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