Scottish Income Tax: 2018-19 policy evaluation

9. Conclusion

The Scottish Government has published this evaluation as part of our commitment to evaluating the effectiveness of tax policy in Scotland, embodying our ambition for excellence in tax policy and delivery, as set out in Scotland's first Framework for Tax.

For the first time, we bring together detailed evidence on the impact of the Scottish Government's decisions on Income Tax since 2017-18. As a result, this document significantly adds to the evidence base on Income Tax in Scotland and will inform the wider debate on the future path of Income Tax policy.

This evaluation is a step in our ongoing work to understand the impacts of Income Tax policy and the performance of the underlying tax base. We will continue to monitor the fiscal and economic risks, as well as the distributional impacts of Income Tax policy as our understanding develops over time.

We will also continue to work with HMRC to ensure that its processes around the operation and administration of Scottish Income Tax remain robust and represent good value for money for Scottish public finances. In this respect, officials in the Scottish Government and HMRC will discuss the findings of this report at the Scottish Income Tax Board and jointly agree any actions to be taken forward.

Finally, we hope this document will contribute to improving public understanding of, and the level of discourse around, taxation in Scotland. In this respect, we intend to carry out a programme of engagement on the evaluation and its findings with stakeholder organisations and academic institutions.