MOST voters in Scotland support plans for new tourist and car parking charges, according to the latest survey of public opinion conducted for the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT).
Research for the body shows broad support for the Scottish Government legislating for councils to bring in new taxes on parking and tourism, with 69% backing such measures aimed at allowing local authorities more powers to generate revenue.
Public opinion was split almost evenly between those who thought the taxes should be set and controlled by Holyrood (32%) and those who support local council control (37%).
Excluding those who opposed the Scottish Government having the power to introduce new taxes, and those who did not express an opinion, a majority of respondents in the east of Scotland preferred that the taxes be set locally (55%), while a majority in the west thought they should be set and controlled by Holyrood (54%).
While voters were generally sympathetic to the tax plans, a high number of Scots were unclear about which aspects of tax policies were determined by Holyrood and Westminster.
The vast majority of people who took part in the research (86%) said they need better information about how taxes are decided in Scotland.
While the figure was broadly similar with the 84% who gave a similar response in 2018, there was a drop of six percentage points in the number of Scots who said that the relationship between Scottish and UK taxes was "easy to understand".
CIOT spokesperson Alexander Garden said: “Devolution has changed the Scottish tax system, but this poll confirms that a lot of work still needs to be undertaken to improve the public’s understanding over how tax responsibilities are split between Holyrood and Westminster.
“That public awareness has shown signs of waning compared with last year suggests that the initial publicity surrounding these changes has started to wear off.
“These figures should provide both the Scottish Government and HMRC with the impetus to renew their efforts to communicate tax changes to the general public.
“A lack of understanding of tax is not a uniquely Scottish issue, but changes in the way that taxes are administered in Scotland in recent years, together with the increasing complexity of the regime and the prospect of further divergence make it ever more important to ensure that taxpayers understand where responsibility and accountability rests.”
The survey found a decline in the number of people who can correctly identify that responsibility for income tax was shared between Holyrood and Westminster, down from 34% in 2018 to 26% this year. Nearly half of Scots (48%, up from 41% in 2018) now think income tax is set wholly by the Scottish Parliament. Holyrood has power over rates and bands, but Westminster determines the level at which people start to pay income tax.
The number of people who think the fully devolved Land and Buildings Transaction Tax is set by Westminster has risen from 24% to 28%.
The research was undertaken by Mark Diffley Consultancy & Research using the ScotPulse survey. Some 1122 adults were interviewed between September 24 and 26, 2019.
Diffley said: “This is the second survey among Scots about awareness of and attitudes towards different taxes, allowing us to begin to establish trends over time.
“The data highlights that awareness of which parliament has different tax raising powers is both low and has declined from last year, suggesting that awareness level last year may have been linked to publicity surrounding the changes.
“It also points to the need for governments to undertake more awareness raising activity to ensure the public has greater understanding of this important issue.”
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