SNP want 50p UK tax rate to fund £118bn public spending plan

Top earners in the UK should pay a 50p tax rate, the Scottish National Party said today despite having resisted a rates hike in Scotland alone.

Nicola Sturgeon’s party has rejected raising the top rate of tax from 45p to 50p several times in the past two years amid warnings it would be detrimental to the Scottish economy.

However today Ms Sturgeon said a UK-wide rise would help pay for the SNP’s £118 billion public spending plans which they announced at their manifesto launch in Perth this morning.

The party’s leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson, said they wanted to set the UK on a new “fiscal path” and end Tory cuts, but did not explain why the tax had not previously been introduced by the SNP-led Scottish Parliament.

In an interview with BBC radio, he said: “The main economic levers are exercised at Westminster.”

Asked why the SNP had not chosen to raise the Scottish rate of income tax despite having the powers to do so he said: “The Scottish Government has already outlined its decision this year and going forward on taxes.

"What I’m saying is what we’re going to do at Westminster if we’re elected and we’re going to vote to end austerity.

“If public spending profiling is different at a UK level, that will have knock on effects for spending in Scotland.”

Ms Sturgeon has previously ruled out Scotland increasing the top rate of income tax after the country’s civil service warned that it could cost the economy £30 million if the wealthiest residents chose to move their tax affairs.

John O’Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance: “Reintroducing the 50p rate would be a disaster for Britain.

"If the SNP really thought that this was a sensible idea and were not just playing politics then they would have introduced it in Scotland where they have the power to do so.

"The facts are that the introduction of this tax would fly in the face of the evidence which shows that cutting the top rate has brought in more cash to treasury coffers and boosted the economy.”

A Conservative spokesman said: “If the SNP were serious about this they’d apply it in Scotland where they can already do it.

"However, the SNP have already made Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK, and it’s exactly this kind of policy they would force on London if Jeremy Corbyn becomes PM.”