Hammer of the Scots! Families warned of even more TAX HIKES as ministers pander to Greens

By TOM GORDON, SCOTTISH DAILY MAIL DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 20:17, 3 June 2026 | Updated: 20:17, 3 June 2026 SNP ministers are planning to ‘hammer’ hard-working Scots with wealth taxes in a ‘blatant attempt to pander’ to the far-Left Scottish Greens, it has been claimed. They insist a Government debate on Thursday on ‘Wealth Taxation for Public Services’ shows the Nationalist allies are determined to ‘dream up’ new levies. Promoted by deputy First Minister and finance secretary Jenny Gilruth, the SNP motion praises the ‘creation of a private jet tax and a mansion tax’, both Green policies. It then urges MSPs to back the Government’s ‘plans to explore what further steps could be taken’ under the current system or ‘with full fiscal powers’. With John Swinney leading a minority government after going backwards at the election, he needs other parties to pass budgets and laws, and the Greens have been a vital partner in the past. Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: ‘John Swinney’s high-tax SNP are at it again. ‘This motion is a blatant attempt to pander to their friends in the Greens who spent the election campaign dreaming up new taxes to hammer hard-pressed households and businesses with. John Swinney with Deputy First Minister Jenny Gilruth at the Scottish Parliament ‘The left-wing parties at Holyrood just don’t get it. ‘You cannot keep taxing your way to economic growth and Scots are sick and tired of being forced to pay the highest taxes in the UK thanks to the nationalists. ‘Scots will be terrified that more tax rises are on the way to fund Swinney’s out-of-control benefits bill which is set to hit close to £10 billion by 2030.’ Setting out the SNP’s budget for 2026/27 earlier this year, former SNP finance secretary Shona Robison announced both a private jet tax and mansion tax. The ’Private Jet Supplement’ will be added to the devolved version of Air Passenger Duty from 2028, which campaigners estimate could raise £30million a year. While a mansion tax based on two new council tax bands will £16million a year from 11,000 homes per year from 2028. Band I will apply to homes over £1million and Band J to those worth over £2million. But the Greens have also floated other forms of mansion tax. Last year they demanded a hike in council bands F, G and H to raise £125million annually. They also tried - and failed - to amend housing law to increase the tax on house sales. The current top rate of Land and Buildings Transaction tax (LBTT) is levied at 12 per cent on house sales over £750,000. The Greens proposed an extra 15 per cent band kicking in at £1million - an idea included in their Holyrood manifesto. They want a standalone Scottish Wealth Tax on the richest 1 per cent of households, of between 1 and 5 per cent of their worth, to raise £1.5 billion a year. They also want Holyrood to control share and dividend tax so they can ‘set suitably high rates for this unearned income’. And their manifesto called a higher rate of income tax for rental income, and hitting landlords with increasing rates of sales tax for each property they buy to ‘discourage’ them from building up portfolios. Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Willie Rennie said: ‘John Swinney will have to work exceptionally hard to recover from the poor choices made by his party in government. ‘Under the SNP, taxes have gone up and up, but the state of our NHS, our schools, roads and more has declined. ‘We need to end waste, grow the economy through good work, skills and an NHS that helps people back to employment. ‘That’s how we expand the tax base and make it much easier to pay for great public services.’ Green MSP Patrick Harvie said: ‘We welcome progress on a private jet tax and a mansion tax, but there is far more that can and should be done. ‘Progressive reform of property tax could play a powerful role in wealth taxation. ‘People across Scotland are facing rising costs, struggling public services and hollowed-out town centres. The least we should expect is a tax system that works for communities, not just for the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations.’ Ms Gilruth said: ‘People across Scotland are feeling the strain of the cost-of-living crisis and our approach to tax must continue to be based on fairness – asking those with the broadest shoulders to contribute more while protecting the majority of people. ’Taxation helps us to target investment to maximise economic growth, deliver public services and support cost-of-living measures not available elsewhere in the UK. ‘That is why work is underway to introduce a private jet tax and a mansion tax. ‘Independence would give us the ability to redesign wealth taxation to work more effectively for people and businesses of Scotland.’ No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. 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