7/ The factsheet, which was prompted by several FOI requests I made to the Scottish Fiscal Commission, can be found here, along with the accompanying letter they sent me.

6/ I spoke with the Scottish Fiscal Commission today, to clarify whether it has shared anything other than the contents of today’s factsheet with Scot Gov. It has not, and therefore what John Swinney told parliament last week was not true.

5/ And last week, John Swinney told parliament the Scottish Fiscal Commission had *confirmed* that the majority of taxpayers in Scotland are set to pay less than they would elsewhere in the UK this year, and that this was the *judgement* of the independent SFC.

4/ At successive budgets the Scottish Government has *never* caveated its flagship tax commitment by acknowledging that it was uncertain and depended on SFC forecasts. It was always presented as a straightforward and unambiguous fact.

3/ The SFC forecast for 2025-26 does still imply that the majority of Scottish taxpayers will pay less tax than they would elsewhere in the UK this financial year, but it carries a significant health warning about making definitive statements based on the forecast.

2/ The “net of deductions” figures (income after pension contributions) have not previously been referenced by Scot Gov or the SFC. The Scot Gov claim was never made or justified on a net of pensions basis, so these figures have no bearing on the veracity of Scot Gov’s claim.

2/ The highlighted text is basically Scot Gov saying: “The tax claim may well have turned out to be false in 2024-25, but so what? The important thing is that the Scottish Fiscal Commission did once forecast it would be true”. This is patently ridiculous.

After spending 18 months trying to sell it for more than nothing:

Full story:

3/ Full story here:

2/ Kenneth Hogg, the civil servant who received the email in which Angus Robertson *was* invited to attend an HES board meeting was sat right next to Robertson as he made these denials, and said nothing. Someone has got some serious explaining to do…

You can read @fraserofallander.org’s careful analysis/black propaganda (delete to choice) here:

According to Richard Murphy, @fraserofallander.org is an organisation devoted to rolling back the devolution of tax powers and preventing Scottish independence. (Part 2/2)

3/ And here is the 2021 SNP manifesto commitment he was breaking.

2/ Here is John Swinney delivering the 2023-24 budget and announcing increases to income tax rates.