MSPs call for inquiry into Swinney's 'tartan tax' lapse

24 Nov 10
Scotland’s finance secretary John Swinney is likely to face a Parliamentary inquiry after admitting he had allowed Holyrood’s ‘tartan tax’ powers to lapse.
By David Scott in Edinburgh


25 November 2010

Scotland’s finance secretary John Swinney is likely to face a Parliamentary inquiry after admitting he had allowed Holyrood’s ‘tartan tax’ powers to lapse.

Opposition parties in the Scottish Parliament yesterday combined to pass an amendment accusing Scottish National Party ministers of ‘an abuse of power’ and of failing to sustain the tax powers by misleading Parliament over the issue. It was passed by 77 votes to 46.

A joint statement issued by Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MSPs today said: ‘The essential facts still need to be clarified. We are calling for the matter to be referred for a detailed investigation by the finance committee and for a full disclosure of all information and correspondence and not the selection chosen by the Cabinet secretary.’

Should the request for an inquiry be approved it would be carried out by the Parliament’s finance committee.

Swinney yesterday apologised for not telling MSPs about a decision that meant Scotland’s ‘tartan tax’ powers had expired.

The finance minister was accused of a ‘cover up’ by not informing the Parliament that the 3p in the pound Scottish Variable Tax could no longer be activated because of a decision not to pay computer upgrade fees to the Revenue & Customs department.

The SVT, provided in the Scotland Act, has not been used since the Scottish Parliament came into existence in 1999 and the UK coalition government is committed to giving Scotland new tax powers.

Swinney strongly defended his decision, pointing out that R&C had asked for £7m to upgrade an IT system that had already cost £12m. He said the same department that had ‘just messed up the tax accounts of 10 million people wants the Scottish people to fork out millions more to upgrade their computer system’.

Swinney said the discussions with R&C had been confidential but he acknowledged that his judgement in not keeping Parliament informed had been called into question. He added: ‘I express my regret to Parliament that in retrospect I clearly did not get all of those judgements correct.’

Iain Gray, leader of Scottish Labour, the main opposition party, claimed Swinney’s explanation was disingenuous and said his apology was unacceptable.

Winding up the debate, Swinney said: ‘I have apologised to Parliament for the fact that I did not share information with Parliament in a fashion I should have.’

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