ICAS ICAS logo

Quicklinks

  1. About Us

    Find out about who we are and what we do here at ICAS.

  2. Find a CA

    Search our directory of individual CAs and Member organisations by name, location and professional criteria.

  3. CA Magazine

    View the latest issues of the dedicated magazine for ICAS Chartered Accountants.

  4. Contact Us

    Get in touch with ICAS by phone, email or post, with dedicated contacts for Members, Students and firms.

Login
  • Annual renewal
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Find a CA
  1. About us
    1. Governance
  2. Members
    1. Become a member
    2. Newly qualified
    3. Manage my membership
    4. Benefits of membership
    5. Careers support
    6. Mentoring
    7. CA Wellbeing
    8. More for Members
    9. Area networks
    10. International communities
    11. Get involved
    12. Top Young CAs
    13. Career breaks
    14. ICAS podcast
    15. Newly admitted members 2022
    16. Newly admitted members 2023
  3. CA Students
    1. Student information
    2. Student resources
    3. Learning requirements
    4. Learning updates
    5. Learning blog
    6. Totum Pro | Student discount card
    7. CA Student wellbeing
  4. Become a CA
    1. How to become a CA
    2. Routes to becoming a CA
    3. CA Stories
    4. Find a training agreement
    5. Why become a CA
    6. Qualification information
    7. University exemptions
  5. Employers
    1. Become an Authorised Training Office
    2. Resources for Authorised Training Offices
    3. Professional entry
    4. Apprenticeships
  6. Find a CA
  7. ICAS events
    1. CA Summit
  8. CA magazine
  9. Insight
    1. Finance + Trust
    2. Finance + Technology
    3. Finance + EDI
    4. Finance + Mental Fitness
    5. Finance + Leadership
    6. Finance + Sustainability
  10. Professional resources
    1. Anti-money laundering
    2. Audit and assurance
    3. Brexit
    4. Business and governance
    5. Charities
    6. Coronavirus
    7. Corporate and financial reporting
    8. Cyber security
    9. Ethics
    10. Insolvency
    11. ICAS Research
    12. Pensions
    13. Practice
    14. Public sector
    15. Sustainability
    16. Tax
  11. CPD - professional development
    1. CPD courses and qualifications
    2. CPD news and updates
    3. CPD support and advice
  12. Regulation
    1. Complaints and sanctions
    2. Regulatory authorisations
    3. Guidance and help sheets
    4. Regulatory monitoring
  13. CA jobs
    1. CA jobs partner: Rutherford Cross
    2. Resources for your job search
    3. Advertise with CA jobs
    4. Hays | A Trusted ICAS CA Jobs Partner
    5. Azets | What's your ambition?
  14. Work at ICAS
    1. Business centres
    2. Meet our team
    3. Benefits
    4. Vacancies
    5. Imagine your career at ICAS
  15. Contact us
    1. Technical and regulation queries
    2. ICAS logo request

Doing politics differently – and the role of taxation

  • LinkedIn (opens new window)
  • Twitter (opens new window)
Charlotte Barbour - NEW profile picture By Charlotte Barbour CA CTA (Fellow), Director of Taxation, ICAS

22 January 2021

Main points:

  • In Scotland a Citizens’ Assembly was convened
  • The Assembly met over 8 formal sessions and has now reported
  • It has made recommendations in relation to tax and the economy

The Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland has published its final report Doing Politics Differently: The Report of the Citizens Assembly of Scotland. Charlotte Barbour outlines an interesting project that has been conducted in Scotland and notes its recommendations on tax.

The Citizens’ Assembly was established by the Scottish Government in October 2019.  It brought together 100 Scottish citizens, who had been approached to join on a random basis in order to find an Assembly that was broadly representative of the wider population in terms of socio-economic characteristics, geography and political attitudes. The report includes a section of members’ diaries, which provide a fascinating insight.

What was the Assembly considering?

The Assembly was convened in order to help formulate new policies to shape Scotland and consider the following questions:

  • What kind of country are we seeking to build?
  • How best can we overcome the challenges Scotland and the world face in the 21st century, including those arising from Brexit?
  • What further work should be carried out to give us the information we need to make informed choices about the future of the country?

How did the Assembly work?

The Assembly worked independently of Government, meeting in 8 formal sessions between October 2019 and December 2020, to consider and report on the above questions. At the outset, a code of conduct was agreed by Assembly members, to help them to express their own views and opinions, share life experiences, explore new ideas and even to change their minds.

Each session was conducted over a weekend, supported by independent facilitators, and considered a wide range of evidence from experts. For instance, session 4 considered Scotland’s finances and choices about tax in relation to the statement: ‘the Scotland we are seeking to build will be a sustainable country balancing environmental, economic and social impacts for the good of the country and its citizens’. The session included presentations providing an overview of Scotland’s finances, an overview on taxation, and an outline of tax choices. ICAS was pleased to have contributed to the overview on taxation, presenting ‘Scotland’s tax system’. As one Assembly member noted:

‘Tax – a dreaded, feared word! Before today, tax for me was you open up your pay packet and you think, “Oh, do I have to pay that?” Today we learned about the bigger picture: UK tax, Scotland’s tax and other countries’ tax system. That was a lot of information and, for me, very informative. I didn’t know half of that.’

The final report

The final report includes a vision statement and 60 accompanying recommendations, which were prepared by the Assembly members and agreed through votes on each one. They are broad-ranging and give a unique insight into the issues that matter most to this Assembly, which was set up to be representative of Scotland’s citizens. The report also shows the consensus that can be achieved through an Assembly process. The report is to be presented to both the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Government with the hope that it may influence the next parliamentary session and beyond.

In its vision statement, the Assembly has said:

‘Scotland should be a country where all taxes are simplified and made more proportionate so that everyone is taxed accordingly; taxation is transparent and understandable; measures are introduced to minimise tax avoidance: and companies are incentivised to adopt green values.’

Tax recommendations

The vision statement is supported by 60 recommendations. Those covering tax include:

  • in order to overcome the challenges of the tax gap the Scottish Government and Parliament should provide legislation and power to a proactive, independent, specialist body that is responsible for finding evaders and avoiders of tax, with power to recover tax due.
  • in order to overcome the challenges of adverse business practices the Scottish Government and Parliament should develop tax incentives for all businesses to encourage good employment practices such as:
    • good environmental choices
    • higher salaries/wages so that people have more money to spend in the Scottish economy
    • apprenticeships and opportunities for young school leavers and graduates in trades and skills as well as academic pursuits
    • large businesses being motivated to invest in research to contribute to creating jobs
    • invest in and develop workforce skills (engineering and new industries like green energy, entrepreneurial skills, etc).
  • in order to make tax more transparent and understandable the Scottish Government and Parliament should provide an information hub for everyone about tax and why it is important. Individuals should be signposted to this hub when they receive their National Insurance number.
  • in order to overcome the challenges of understanding tax the Scottish Government and Parliament should publish a register of organisations which shows compliance with tax and employment measures using the green/amber/red system.
  • in order to overcome the challenges of understanding tax the Scottish Government and Parliament should provide a public statement available on all platforms from the Finance Minister every quarter about how taxes of all types have been spent and what remains in all budgets.
  • in order to overcome the challenges of encouraging individuals and companies to engage in the process of innovation the Scottish Government and Parliament should invest and incentivise through research grants and tax breaks, etc.

This has been an interesting exercise in bringing citizens into the political debate and ICAS is pleased to have been able to contribute its expert evidence.

Scottish Budget 2021-22 consultation

By Charlotte Barbour CA CTA (Fellow), Director of Taxation, ICAS

8 October 2020

Making effective tax policy

By Susan Cattell, Head of Tax Technical Policy

14 July 2020

2-23-marsh 2-23-marsh
ICAS logo

Footer links

  • Contact us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Modern slavery statement
  • Privacy notice
  • CA magazine

Connect with ICAS

  • Facebook (opens new window) Facebook Icon
  • Twitter (opens new window) Twitter Icon
  • LinkedIn (opens new window) LinkedIn Icon
  • Instagram (opens new window) Instagram Icon

ICAS is a member of the following bodies

  • Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies (opens new window) Consultative Committee of Accountancy Bodies logo
  • Chartered Accountants Worldwide (opens new window) Chartered Accountants Worldwide logo
  • Global Accounting Alliance (opens new window) Global Accounting Alliance
  • International Federation of Accountants (opens new window) IFAC
  • Access Accountancy (opens new window) Access Acountancy

Charities

  • ICAS Foundation (opens new window) ICAS Foundation
  • SCABA (opens new window) scaba

Accreditations

  • ISO 9001 - RGB (opens new window)
© ICAS 2022

The mark and designation “CA” is a registered trade mark of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), and is available for use in the UK and EU only to members of ICAS. If you are not a member of ICAS, you should not use the “CA” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to accountancy, tax or insolvency services. The mark and designation “Chartered Accountant” is a registered trade mark of ICAS, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales and Chartered Accountants Ireland. If you are not a member of one of these organisations, you should not use the “Chartered Accountant” mark and designation in the UK or EU in relation to these services. Further restrictions on the use of these marks also apply where you are a member.

ICAS logo

Our cookie policy

ICAS.com uses cookies which are essential for our website to work. We would also like to use analytical cookies to help us improve our website and your user experience. Any data collected is anonymised. Please have a look at the further information in our cookie policy and confirm if you are happy for us to use analytical cookies: