Tax Devolution

Part of Oral Answers to Questions — Treasury – in the House of Commons at 11:30 am on 10 March 2015.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Danny Alexander Danny Alexander The Chief Secretary to the Treasury 11:30, 10 March 2015

Yes, we have. The hon. Gentleman is right. The Smith commission—rightly, I believe—devolves power over rates and bands in the income tax system. It does not devolve control of the tax base or the personal allowance. One of the bits of work that remains to be done is to ensure that we have a fiscal framework in place around that which means that the fact of devolution does not offer a financial advantage in and of itself either to Scotland or to the rest of the United Kingdom. I have had constructive discussions with John Swinney on that point and on many others. It is, of course, a matter for the Scottish Government to make sure that they have competent administrative machinery in place, which they will need next month when the process of the first wave of income tax devolution starts.