The Scottish Parliament is set to exert significant influence over the amount of money in people's pockets, with big upcoming decisions that will affect take home pay and disposable incomes.
The new Scottish Rate of Income Tax will be set this autumn and come into operation next April. Had it been in place last year it would have netted the Scottish Government £4.3 billion in tax revenues.
Similarly, a replacement for Council Tax - for which Scots fork out £1.9 billion each year - is to be unveiled later this year following the establishment of a Government-led commission on the issue.
These big upcoming decisions have to be got right, and it is imperative that they are used positively to support economic growth and family budgets.
However fundamental reform of another major tax should also be on the agenda.
Scottish firms will pay out £2.8 billion in business rates this year, with a quarter of this coming from the retail industry. As I visit retailers one message is consistently to the fore: their confidence to invest in physical shops is being held back by the prospect of shelling out even more for business rates.
Alternative routes to market, especially online, are increasingly viewed as more cost effective and less burdensome. This has implications for the future of our high streets and retail parks but also for future tax revenues.
The fears are born out in the facts. Business rates revenues derived from retail increased 30 per cent between 2009 and 2014. Over that period there were 1,795 fewer shops. Every one per cent rise in the shop vacancy rate equates to a loss of around 2,550 retail jobs.
An overhaul of business rates would be a very effective and tangible step that Holyrood could take to unleash business investment and growth that could bring with it jobs and a revival of our town centres.
For our part, the SRC launched Business Rates: Fundamental Reform earlier this year. It sets out the core arguments of why reform is required and the principles which should underpin reform. It has started to capture the imagination of policy makers and is also attracting growing support from a wide cross section of Scotland's business and commercial life, including publishers, manufacturers, the whisky industry and representatives of small firms.
Across the UK, rates reform is rising up the political agenda, with reviews being undertaken in Northern Ireland and England. This should concentrate minds in Scotland as it is no longer an option to say that fundamental reform is too difficult or complicated - that ship has sailed. Indeed, 69 per cent of MSPs agreed in a survey that the current system of business rates is in need of reform.
The challenge for politicians in Scotland is to show how they are going to embrace the task of rates reform and deliver a system fit for the 21st century. Reducing the business tax burden and flexing it according to economic conditions would encourage firms to grow, invest in high streets and create more jobs.
David Lonsdale is director of the Scottish Retail Consortium
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