Information regarding Tax and National Insurance payments: FOI release

Information requested

1. I would like to see the policy that enforces me to pay tax through the P.A.Y.E scheme.
2. I would like to see a full breakdown of where PAYE tax is used by HMRC for use in government departments.
3. National insurance is my individual pension would it not be matured like other private pensions if I've contributed all my able working life?
4. What agreement do you have with living men/women that allows tax to calculated at the rate it is?
5. Do you have the slavery act policy?

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under section 17(1) of FOISA, we must inform you that the Scottish Government does not hold some of the information you have requested.

1. I would like to see the policy that enforces me to pay tax through the P.A.Y.E scheme

The Income Tax Act 2007 is an Act of the UK Parliament. It is the primary source of legislation on Income Tax in the UK.

Section 3(1) of the Act lists the principle provisions that contain charges to Income Tax. Subsection (2) makes clear that there are also charges to Income Tax in other pieces of legislation. The main ones are shown in that section, but the list is not exhaustive. Income Tax is an annual tax which has to be renewed annually by primary legislation in the UK Parliament. In practice, the renewal of Income Tax is achieved through the passing of the annual Finance Act and its associated parliamentary processes.

Since 2017-18, the Scottish Parliament has had the power to set the rates and bands that apply to the non-savings non-dividend income of Scottish taxpayers. This follows the devolution of further powers through the Scotland Act 2016. Similar to the process in the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament must pass a resolution (known as the Scottish Rate Resolution) before the start of the new tax year in order for the rates and bands of Scottish Income Tax to have effect in the new tax year.

The Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy will set out the proposed rates and bands of Scottish Income Tax for 2022-23 at the Scottish Budget on 9 December 2021.

2. I would like to see a full breakdown of where PAYE tax is used by HMRC for use in government departments.

HMRC’s Annual Tax Summary (ATS) provides a summary of an individual’s Income Tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) for the year, and an illustration of how an individual’s payments of Income Tax and NICs were used by the government in its spending. The spending illustration in the ATS shows how government spent money across the whole of the UK, including spending by devolved administrations.

Receipts from Scottish Income Tax are used to fund the Scottish Government’s priorities, set by the Scottish Parliament when it agrees the Scottish Budget. This includes funding that the Scottish Government provides to Local Authorities.

You can view your ATS online at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/annual-tax-summary.

Further information on how public spending has been calculated in the ATS can also be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-taxsummary/how-public-spending-was-calculated-in-your-tax-summary

3. National insurance is my individual pension would it not be matured like other private pensions if I've contributed all my able working life?

Under article 17(1) of FOISA, we must inform you that the Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Department for Work and Pensions is a UK Government department that is responsible for pensions, and will therefore hold the information that is being requested.

You may wish to contact the Department for Work and Pensions with this request at freedom-of-informationrequest@dwp.gov.uk.

4. What agreement do you have with living men/women that allows tax to calculated at the rate it is?

See answer to question 1.

5. Do you have the slavery act policy?

Please note, the Modern Slavery Act 2015 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that extends to England and Wales, with some provisions applying in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Additional information about the Scottish Government’s work on modern slavery and human trafficking has been included below.

The Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Act was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2015. The Act introduced a single offence for all kinds of trafficking for the first time. It raised the maximum penalty for trafficking to life imprisonment and gives police and prosecutors new tools to prevent and detect trafficking and bring those responsible to justice.

One of the requirements of the Act was for the Scottish Government to prepare a Trafficking and Exploitation Strategy and to lay it before Parliament. The Strategy was published in May 2017 with a vision to eliminate human trafficking and exploitation. In order to achieve this, it sets out three action areas: identify victims and support them to safety and recovery; identify perpetrators and disrupt their activity; and address the conditions, both local and global, that foster trafficking and exploitation.

A further strand of activity relates to child trafficking. The Strategy can be accessed via the following link:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/trafficking-exploitation-strategy/

Since publication of the Strategy, a wide range of work has been undertaken and we have published three progress reports which can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/policies/human-trafficking/

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.