The Scottish Conservatives can reveal that the SNP are considering “staggering” tax rises to fund their proposed Minimum Income Guarantee costing nearly £4 billion through changes to devolved taxes alone.
The proposals are listed in a paper commissioned by the Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group that was established by the SNP Government.
The Scotsman reported this week that the SNP spent £1.3 million on that paper to look at how the policy could be implemented, despite one insider claiming it was a “waste of time and money.”
One measure recommended in the report, lowering the personal allowance for Scottish Income Tax to £7,570, would cost the public £2.68 billion and increase bills for every single taxpayer by £950.
Other proposed tax rises include increasing council tax by up to 22.5% above inflation, taxing income at 42p for every pound earned over £40,000 and applying Scottish Income Tax to dividends and savings.
The SNP’s manifesto committed them to implementing a Minimum Income Guarantee and their own estimates suggest the proposal could cost north of £8 billion.
The Scottish Conservatives urged the nationalists to immediately rule out these tax rises and abandon any attempts to impose even more costs on Scotland’s ballooning benefits bill.
Scottish Conservative shadow social security secretary Alexander Stewart said: “These staggering tax rises proposed by an SNP talking shop would pile further misery on hard-working Scots.
“The public are already suffering with £1.7 billion-worth of tax rises from SNP ministers – yet all the while public services have deteriorated.
“Every single taxpayer in Scotland could be hit with an eye-watering £950 bill if these tax rises were to be implemented.
“The fact these tax rises would not even be able to cover the enormous £8 billion bill required to implement a Minimum Income Guarantee should worry Scots that further tax hikes will be necessary too.
“After squandering taxpayers’ money on a report even nationalists knew was doomed to fail, John Swinney should immediately rule out this multi-billion-pound tax bombshell and drop the SNP’s Minimum Income Guarantee plans for good.”
Notes
A paper published by a working group set up by the SNP recommended hiking devolved taxes by £4 billion to pay for a Minimum Income Guarantee. The ‘How to pay for a Minimum Income Guarantee’ paper recommends reducing the Higher Rate threshold to £40,000 and the Additional Rate threshold to £58,285, increasing council tax by 3% above inflation for bands A-D, 7.5% for band E, 12.5% for band F, 17.5% for band G and 22.5% for band H, reducing the Scottish Income Tax personal allowance to £7,570 and expanding Scottish Income Tax to dividend and savings income. In total, the paper estimates these tax rises would cost taxpayers £3.93 billion. (How to pay for a Minimum Income Guarantee, 18 June 2025, link).
An SNP insider reportedly branded the £1.3 million report a waste of money. The insider said the report was a ‘waste of time’ and ‘doomed to fail’. It has also been acknowledged that Holyrood does not even have all the tax raising powers outlined in the taxpayer funded report. (The Scotsman, 5 August 2025, link).
The SNP promised to deliver a Minimum Income Guarantee in their manifesto. The SNP manifesto stated ‘we will start work in the next Parliament to provide a Minimum Income Guarantee for all’. (SNP Manifesto 2021, 15 April 2021, link).
The Minimum Income Guarantee working group said the proposal could cost over £8 billion. The Minimum Income Guarantee roadmap states: ‘Scottish Government analysis modelled the costs and impacts of a full indefinite Minimum Income Guarantee, as envisioned by the Expert Group, set at the relative poverty line. Assuming full take-up of benefits and no behavioural effects, it estimated that this would cost a net £8.1 billion per year’. (Minimum Income Guarantee: a roadmap to dignity, 18 June 2025, link).