Minutes from the First Minister’s Council of Economic Advisers have revealed tax has never been on the agenda this year or last.
This is despite power over income tax coming to Holyrood next year, and the subject dominating Scottish politics in recent months.
Yesterday, Chancellor George Osborne announced an increase in the higher rate threshold to £45,000, and lifted thousands more out of tax altogether by raising the personal allowance.
At First Minister’s Questions today, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson urged Nicola Sturgeon to ensure these tax cuts were passed on to hardworking Scots from April 2017.
However, the SNP leader signalled she was not prepared to do this, meaning both her party and Labour will seek to have higher taxes in Scotland than the rest of the UK.
Writing in this morning’s newspapers, former Scottish Enterprise chief executive Jack Perry said such a move would “weaken our tax base and depress the economy”, adding that would lead to cuts for schools, hospitals and an ageing population.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said:
“Next year the Scottish Parliament will reach maturity, making key decisions on how much money is in people’s pockets.
"But instead of discussing that, and all the wide ranging economic impacts taxation decisions make, the First Minister’s own body of experts has ignored the issue.
"It’s incredible that the Scottish Government doesn’t think this merits discussion.
“In Westminster, we have a Chancellor who wants to drive the economy, get people back into work and allow hard workers to keep more of their own money.
“But here, we have a First Minister who hasn’t paid attention to the changes, and seems happy to hang a sign at the Scottish border saying: ‘Closed for business.’
“That will damage Scotland’s economy, and make less money to support schools, hospitals and infrastructure.”