Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed the SNP will make higher earners pay more tax in Scotland than their counterparts in the rest of the UK.
The First Minister said she would not follow George Osborne’s decision to give the better off a tax break when Holyrood gets control of income tax.
Mr Osborne announced in his Budget that he will raise the threshold at which people start paying the higher rate from £43,000 to £45,000 in April 2017.
That will mean Scots earning more than £45,000 paying £400 more in tax than those south of the border.
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale repeatedly called on the SNP leader at First Minister’s Questions to reveal her income tax plans – and to place on record whether she would reverse Mr Osborne’s tax cut.
Ms Dugdale said: “The new tax powers that are coming to Scotland give us a real opportunity to stop George Osborne’s cuts.
“I have already said that this parliament is surely not a place that should pass on Tory austerity – instead, it should stop it.
“Faced with the choice between using the powers of this parliament to invest and carrying on with the cuts, we can choose to use the powers.”
Ms Sturgeon said she believed a “tax cut to the 10% of the population at the highest end of the income spectrum is the wrong choice”.
She added: “Clearly if I think that it is the wrong choice, it is not a choice that I am going to make myself. Perhaps that is simple enough for Kezia Dugdale.
“At a time when our services are under pressure, it is important that we protect our public services.”
Experts have suggested that if Scotland froze the higher rate threshold in cash terms it would raise an extra £300million in tax revenue – thanks to wage rises dragging more people into the higher band.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) think-tank in Scotland also found a 1p rise across all bands would raise £500million, which Labour and the Lib Dems have both committed to do.
A penny increase for higher rate payers only, which can only be done from April next year, would bring in £100million, the IPPR added.
Ruth Davidson, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives, warned against putting Scotland out of sync with the rest of the UK by imposing higher taxes.
She said: “I do not want to see a sign at the border that says ‘higher taxes here’.
“I think that that is the wrong choice for Scotland, and I am not the only one who thinks that.”
