Tax super-rich or risk continued child poverty, warn Greens

Scotland must tax the “super-rich” or risk continuing child poverty, the Scottish Greens have warned.

The party’s co-leader, Ross Greer, has urged First Minister John Swinney to “come clean” on the future of taxation in Scotland as his Government is beginning to consider its spending plans for next year.

Speaking ahead of an event held by Tax Justice Scotland, Mr Greer said public services face cuts if the Government does not back proposals from his party on imposing a tax on the purchase of homes worth more than £1 million or “far higher” taxes on foreign landowners.

“Scotland’s public finances just don’t add up. Unless we change course, we’re heading towards disaster for essential services like our NHS and schools,” the Green leader said.

“Protecting those services and making progress on our shared mission to eradicate child poverty will depend on taxing the super-rich and big polluters. It’s time for the First Minister to come clean and be honest about that.

“The Scottish Greens are certainly clear about how we would do it, with proposals like a mansion tax on the purchase of million-pound homes, far higher taxes on overseas owners who hoard land and property in Scotland just to make a profit, and ending the tax breaks exploited by the super-rich and big corporations.

“Unfortunately, other parties run a mile from this reality, arguing simultaneously for tax cuts and increased public spending. That’s just downright dishonest.

“Scotland’s super-rich are sitting on vast fortunes. They can and must be made to pay their fair share.”

The comments come following a report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on Monday which found the Scottish Government risked missing its child poverty targets by a “wide margin” if action was not taken.

Mr Greer added: “The choice we face is between continued child poverty and cuts to public services or taking on the super-rich and building a better Scotland for everyone.”

The Greens were frequent partners of the SNP in Government in helping to pass budgets in the years before the Bute House Agreement, with the ruling party not having the required numbers to pass its plans alone.

Finance Secretary Shona Robison said: “We have committed to exploring what wealth taxation could look like for Scotland in our tax strategy, and we welcome this report as a contribution to the discussion.

“However, the options to take forward wealth taxation is incredibly limited without the full powers an independent nation.

“We support progressive taxation, as can be demonstrated to our approach to income tax where those earning the most contributed slightly more, while the majority of income taxpayers in Scotland pay less than they would elsewhere in the UK.

“Our taxation choices enable us to deliver policies that not available anywhere else in the UK, including the game-changing Scottish Child Payment which is forecast to benefit the families of over 330,000 children in 2025-26.

“We’re determined to go further, which is why it is this Scottish Government that is scrapping the two-child cap in Scotland in 2026.”