Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has claimed that income tax levels are “hammering families” during the cost-of-living crisis.
Mr Sarwar was speaking in front of business leaders in Glasgow as he set out his priorities for economic growth.
The strategy focuses on green energy, technology and finance and selling Scotland the brand to the world.
Speculation has suggested that First Minister Humza Yousaf could hike income tax rates to tally up additional funding to pay for public services.
Read more: Anas Sarwar aims to deliver economic strategy as next first minister
But Mr Sarwar stressed that there should be a "presumption against any increases to income tax".
Currently, those earning more than £28,000 in Scotland pay a higher level of tax than in England.
Asked about potential income tax rises, Mr Sarwar said: "I think income tax has been used as the substitute for economic growth, and it's actually choking off opportunity and actually hammering families in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.
"He seems to believe, our First Minister, that someone earning over £24,000 a year is somehow well off and therefore should pay higher taxes.”
Read more: Anas Sarwar says 'no cliff edge' for oil and gas workers
He added: "You ask families across the country that are on £24,000. They don't feel very well off.
“They're struggling to pay their mortgages. Mortgages have gone up because of Tory economic chaos.
"They're struggling to pay their energy bills, they're struggling to pay their food bills, and now they're getting hit with a potential of a council tax increase of over £700 as well.
"That's choking off opportunity, and pushing more and more people into poverty.
"So we have a presumption against any increases to income tax, and we instead want the Scottish Government to focus relentlessly on economic growth to increase the size of the cake and to then make those strategic investments so we can deliver social reform here in Scotland.”
Read more: Sarwar's economic strategy to focus on green energy, finance and tech
But earlier, Mr Sarwar acknowledged that tax receipts are needed in order to better fund public services.
He said: “We recognise that businesses have to be successful, and they have to make profit, in order for them to create the jobs our country needs – and for us to build the strong economy our country needs.
“That’s what delivers the tax receipts we need to deliver the policy reform we want to implement”
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel