Budget 2021/2022: supporting the COVID-19 recovery - Scotland's taxes and fiscal framework - consultation

Why we are consulting 

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered twin health and economic crises on a global scale.  The Scottish Government has taken unprecedented steps to support the  people and businesses of Scotland and we will continue to do so.  We also remain committed to being an open and consultative government, which values and encourages accountability.  The pandemic has underlined the importance of providing timely information about the decisions we are taking to support public understanding and provide opportunities for the public and stakeholders to participate in those decisions.

In the Programme for Government 2020-21, we committed to building on our strong track record of taking a consultative approach to tax policy by launching an open representations process in advance of Budget 2021-22.  This process will seek views on the role of our devolved taxes and the Fiscal Framework in the COVID-19 economic recovery, and to inform the decisions we take at the upcoming Budget.

The Scottish Government considers this to be a crucial time to seek wide-ranging views on how we can best deploy our limited tax, borrowing and reserve powers to support the recovery, and how we can seek to address any deficiencies in our current devolved fiscal arrangements exposed by the crisis, in order to build stronger fiscal foundations for Scotland’s future.  

We welcome responses from organisations and individuals on these issues in line with the Call for Evidence (see Annex A).