The Finance Secretary has delivered his budget statement to the Scottish Parliament this afternoon and announced that the Scottish Income Tax Rate will be set at 10% for 2016/17.
The effect of this is to ensure that Scottish Taxpayers will pay tax at the same rates as their counterparts in the rest of the UK, at 20%, 40% and 45%.
Income tax bands for the basic and higher rates are the same in Scotland as in the rest of the UK.
John Swinney has also announced that he intends to bring forward legislation effective from April 2016 which will see property transactions involving second homes and buy-to-let properties being subject to a 3% supplement over the current Scottish Land and Buildings Transaction Tax rates.
This move brings Scotland into line with the rest of the UK following George Osborne's Autumn Statement announcing an additional stamp duty land tax charge of 3% for second homes and buy-to-lets.
