GRAHAM GRANT: Daylight robbery as Swinney's punitive tax grabs drive the country ever closer to economic ruin

By GRAHAM GRANT, SCOTTISH HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 21:15, 27 July 2026 | Updated: 21:15, 27 July 2026 Tax is theft, according to some political thinkers, but if that’s the case the SNP is guilty of grand larceny. The Nationalists had an embezzler for a chief executive who robbed the party’s coffers blind for 12 years – but they’ve been doing the same to Scots for long enough while in government. Of course, we are all encouraged to believe there is a unique ‘social contract’ which means we get significant bang for our buck when it comes to the SNP’s higher taxes. The reality is we’ve been short-changed on a spectacular scale, given the dismal state of public services – from an ailing NHS to under-performing schools. Now we learn that the tax raids on those earning the most have failed to live up to expectations, in a big way. A new analysis, as predictable as it is depressing, found the SNP’s decision to hike the top rate of income tax to 48p for Scottish taxpayers backfired by reducing revenues. Dan Neidle, a tax policy expert and former adviser to the Scottish Government, said that the move led to a £22million cut in the amount raised in 2024/25. An investigation by his think-tank, Tax Policy Associates, concluded that Scotland has now probably ‘fallen over the Laffer Curve’. John Swinney has refused to rein in higher tax rates in Scotland According to this theory, revenues start to drop after taxes pass a certain level because people work less, hide income or move away. You might recall that shamed former finance secretary Derek Mackay admitted he’d never heard of the Laffer Curve. Luckily, Tory MSP Murdo Fraser was on hand to explain the concept. It made no difference because punitive taxation has continued and gone up a gear or two, long after Mr Mackay’s abrupt departure from office. He quit hours before the Scottish Budget in 2020 after it emerged he had sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy. This is the calibre of law-maker we’ve been saddled with in Scotland, but plenty of others including John Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon had opportunities to rein in taxes – and refused to do so. The SNP has made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK, with six income tax bands, double the number south of the Border. Anyone earning more than £33,500 per year pays more income tax than their counterparts in England and Wales, with those on £50,000 salaries paying almost £1,500 extra. In April 2024, Scotland’s top rate of income tax, payable on income over £125,140, increased by a penny to 48p, compared to 45p in the rest of the UK. At the same time, a new ‘advanced rate’ of 45 per cent was imposed on all incomes between £75,000 and £125,140. This compares with a 40 per cent rate payable in England and Wales. As the Mail revealed on Saturday, Scots are also choosing to live in England and commute to Scotland to avoid the SNP tax grab. Rathbones, one of the UK’s leading wealth and asset management groups, said there was a ‘clear tension between Scotland’s devolved income tax regime and wider UK growth ambitions’. Gordon Lawrie, head of the wealth manager’s Edinburgh office, said: ‘Our advisers see individuals who work in Edinburgh but choose, for tax reasons, to live south of the Border and commute – this is not good for Scotland.’ It’s not a new phenomenon – back in 2024, we revealed that a mass exodus of high earners was sparking a property boom in northern England as workers tried to protect their pay. At the time, Humza Yousaf’s government was preparing to impose more tax hikes, piling yet more pressure on those earning higher salaries. Sometimes, it’s not about escaping the country – others have taken a different tack to avoid the SNP’s tax hammer. One senior finance worker who lives in Scotland but works in England, and who preferred not to be named, contacted me to say he’d reduced his hours. Former Scottish Government adviser Dan Neidle's analysis of the SNP's higher tax rate pointed to £22million less in tax takings as a result He said: ‘I work a four-day week and consequently pay less tax than before the rates were hiked. ‘Forty-eight per cent income tax, of course, is in fact 50 per cent in practice since there is no distinction for the payer between the income tax take and the two per cent National Insurance take.’ He pointed out that for those in the ‘comfortably off’ income bracket, the amount workers can save in a pension tax-free is reduced on a sliding scale. So, on top of paying a high rate of tax, you also lose the advantages of pension saving, since if you are taxed ‘on the way in and taxed on the way out, it is no longer attractive’. Reflecting on the Laffer Curve, and how it got the better of the SNP, he said: ‘Some tax optimisation strategies are complicated, but when you start to feel the bite of the tax regime then it is a very easy move for a high earner to decide to take more leisure time.’ Yet the SNP remains in a state of denial, insisting that ‘our economy is one of the best performing parts of the UK’, despite moribund growth rates – and a government which until fairly recently ruled alongside the deluded eco-Marxists of the Greens. In December 2022, Mr Swinney, who was then stand-in finance secretary, hiked income tax from 41p to 42p in the pound for people earning more than £43,666. If you’re wondering where your extra tax ended up, remember that Mr Swinney once called it a ‘penny for patient care’. It’s up to you whether you think it really has benefited the NHS to a tangible degree, but to anyone stuck on a lengthy waiting list the answer is likely to be no. The number of operations carried out by Scotland’s NHS has declined, cancellations are on the rise and A&E performance hit an all-time low for May. The social contract is looking more than a little threadbare, but the chances are that we’ll still be taxed until the pips squeak to bankroll state handouts which will soon cost nearly £9billion a year. Andy Burnham has signalled his willingness to work more closely with the SNP, which is keen to push the case for wealth taxes – which we’re told also appeal to the new Prime Minister. Soaking the rich is all very well, until they leave the country – or cut their hours to save on tax. How any of this is compatible with Mr Swinney’s stated aim to boost growth – also a goal of Mr Burnham, though we don’t know how he hopes to achieve it – is frankly anyone’s guess. The Left-wing ideologues have had more than their fair share of our hard-earned cash – but the damage they’ve caused has been profound. Dogma has held sway for far too long – but now the chickens are coming home to roost. Either the SNP makes the tax system simpler and fairer, or Scotland will take another step towards economic ruin.