FINANCE Secretary John Swinney is facing growing pressure to ensure newly devolved taxes will be collected promptly when they come into force in April.
Opposition MSPs yesterday demanded he make a parliamentary statement setting out contingency plans after watchdogs warned Revenue Scotland, the government's new tax agency, may not be fully ready on time.
They also called for the head of Revenue Scotland, Eleanor Emberson, to appear before Holyrood's audit committee.
The Scottish Government will raise a new property sales tax, the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), and a levy on landfill from April.
Public spending watchdogs Audit Scotland said in a report yesterday that Revenue Scotland had failed to put staff in place early enough and warned a complex new IT system might not be fully operational on time.
Labour, Lib Dem and Conservative MSPs stepped up the pressure on Mr Swinney after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon insisted the tax agency was "on track".
Addressing MSPs during First Ministers Questions she confirmed a number of key posts - which were due to have been filled in October - would not be advertised until January.
She also revealed "external testing" of the computer system would take place next month.
However, she said contingency plans would not be implemented, adding: "I'm satisfied that all the steps that should be taken are being taken.
"Revenue Scotland is on track to manage the collection of the new devolved taxes from April 1."
Speaking after question time, Scottish Labour finance spokesman Iain Gray said: "The risks are high and the government's response has been contemptuous.
"These taxes are a resource which the government's budget for next year absolutely depends upon."
The LBTT, which replaces Stamp Duty, is expected to raise £441million. The Scottish Landfill tax will raise a further £117million.
Audit Scotland warned of delays and soaring costs if Revenue Scotland is unable to process up to 600 LBTT payments per day as planned.
Revenue Scotland chief Ms Emberson gave evidence to a Holyrood committee last month when she told MSPs: "There is nothing negative I have to report."
ends
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article