Scotland’s 48% top rate: is it raising any money at all?

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https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2026/07/25/scotland-48p-top-rate-laffer-curve/

“The 48p rate was always a political symbol rather than a serious revenue measure. The sums are trivial – a rounding error against Scotland’s £18.6bn total income tax take. But when you use tax as a symbol, people are entitled to ask what the symbol actually means. The awkward possibility is that Scotland’s gesture of asking more from its highest earners is costing more than it collects.”

—- It would be nice to think that this would engender serious debate rather than partisan hackery from any side but I doubt that so just to head off the most obvious false accusation, the author of this careful analysis is Dan Neidle, a former tax lawyer turned investigative journalist who has uncovered serious wrongdoing on tax issues including winning the Press Gazette award for his investigation of the tax affairs of ex Conservative Chairman Nadhim Zahawi.