Meeting of the Parliament 04 June 2026 [Draft]
This is my first opportunity on the record to congratulate the new Deputy First Minister on her appointment. I am pleased that she has chosen to debate this topic so early in the session.
Greens have laid the case for wealth taxes. Both here and at UK level, it is Green voices that are most clearly advocating for change. We do that because we know that the richest 2 per cent have more wealth than half the population combined and because we believe that that is simply indefensible.
It is not only the Greens who believe that. Members will have seen briefings for today’s debate from a range of organisations. The Scottish Trades Union Congress tells us that the
“growth in wealth of Scotland’s ten richest people … has outstripped workers’ wages more than sixfold since”
this Parliament first met in 1999. Tax Justice Scotland, which includes Oxfam Scotland, the Poverty Alliance, the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland and others, describes wealth taxation as
“one of the most promising opportunities for building a more prosperous and sustainable Scotland.”
We also know that 85 per cent of people in Scotland want taxes on the wealthy to increase. That figure includes a large majority of people who are, themselves, very wealthy, as the organisation Patriotic Millionaires has shown in its briefing.