Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 25 April 2013
25 Apr 2013 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Indeed. I was just about to suggest to the cabinet secretary that, if he indicates to the committee and to Parliament when he has agreed on a date, so that we can have some clarity on the matter, that will help.
Every bit as important as the new taxation rates will be the agreement that is reached with Westminster on the consequent reduction in the block grant. I hope that the cabinet secretary will accept our assurances that we will support him in securing a good deal for Scotland. I should emphasise that a good deal for Scotland is one that is fair and is accepted by both sides as just. Basing agreement on figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility could be successful. I would want an agreement as robust as that secured by the no-detriment principle in the Calman commission’s other recommendations on tax.
The Finance Committee fully agreed with the Government that the bill offers an opportunity to tackle the susceptibility of stamp duty to tax avoidance. The cabinet secretary and I have disagreed in the past over the Scottish Government’s support for tax dodgers such as Amazon, so I was very pleased to welcome and support the bill’s general anti-avoidance rule. We hope that the GAAR will minimise the exposure of LBTT and the forthcoming landfill tax to abusive tax arrangements and we believe that the rule should be robust and rigorously enforced.
We support the bill’s general approach, which is to do away with most tax reliefs—again, in the hope that that will help to prevent tax avoidance. There has been much discussion and lobbying on the removal of sub-sale relief. The committee has—rightly—highlighted concern about that. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s earlier comment and his statement in response to the committee that the Government will work with key stakeholders to ensure that forward-funding arrangements are not subject to double taxation. Above-board transactions should not be unnecessarily punished or stifled by the new tax system.
It will be even more important for the cabinet secretary to look long and hard at what he can do to promote more energy-efficient homes. The fact that zero-carbon homes relief has not been successfully applied for in Scotland does not merit the Government backsliding on the climate change cause. Measures to incentivise energy efficiency need to be re-explored, particularly if the Government is serious about making energy efficiency a more significant factor in home buyers’ priorities and if we are to cut carbon emissions by 42 per cent as planned.
Every bit as important as the new taxation rates will be the agreement that is reached with Westminster on the consequent reduction in the block grant. I hope that the cabinet secretary will accept our assurances that we will support him in securing a good deal for Scotland. I should emphasise that a good deal for Scotland is one that is fair and is accepted by both sides as just. Basing agreement on figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility could be successful. I would want an agreement as robust as that secured by the no-detriment principle in the Calman commission’s other recommendations on tax.
The Finance Committee fully agreed with the Government that the bill offers an opportunity to tackle the susceptibility of stamp duty to tax avoidance. The cabinet secretary and I have disagreed in the past over the Scottish Government’s support for tax dodgers such as Amazon, so I was very pleased to welcome and support the bill’s general anti-avoidance rule. We hope that the GAAR will minimise the exposure of LBTT and the forthcoming landfill tax to abusive tax arrangements and we believe that the rule should be robust and rigorously enforced.
We support the bill’s general approach, which is to do away with most tax reliefs—again, in the hope that that will help to prevent tax avoidance. There has been much discussion and lobbying on the removal of sub-sale relief. The committee has—rightly—highlighted concern about that. I welcome the cabinet secretary’s earlier comment and his statement in response to the committee that the Government will work with key stakeholders to ensure that forward-funding arrangements are not subject to double taxation. Above-board transactions should not be unnecessarily punished or stifled by the new tax system.
It will be even more important for the cabinet secretary to look long and hard at what he can do to promote more energy-efficient homes. The fact that zero-carbon homes relief has not been successfully applied for in Scotland does not merit the Government backsliding on the climate change cause. Measures to incentivise energy efficiency need to be re-explored, particularly if the Government is serious about making energy efficiency a more significant factor in home buyers’ priorities and if we are to cut carbon emissions by 42 per cent as planned.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (John Scott)
Con
Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is a stage 1 debate on motion S4M-06294, in the name of John Swinney, on the Land and Buildings Tra...
The Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth (John Swinney)
SNP
The Scotland Act 2012 devolves responsibility for taxes on land and property transactions and disposal to landfill to the Scottish Parliament from April 2015...
Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con)
Con
I am a member of the Public Audit Committee, which has been looking into the Auditor General for Scotland’s report on Registers of Scotland’s IT system. Para...
John Swinney
SNP
I would describe the position as work in progress. As I set out to Parliament last June, Registers of Scotland will be the collection organisation for the ne...
Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP)
SNP
I am pleased to highlight key areas that the Finance Committee considered following its stage 1 evidence taking.The Scotland Act 2012 devolves a range of tax...
Ken Macintosh (Eastwood) (Lab)
Lab
The land and buildings transaction tax is, I believe, Scotland’s first new tax in 300 years. It stems from the conclusions of the Calman commission, establis...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
Will the member take an intervention?
Ken Macintosh
Lab
I hope that Mr Mason can demonstrate a sense of humour.
John Mason
SNP
Does the member accept that, if the overall indication is that the effect will be broadly neutral, the room for manoeuvre is not huge? The position is not th...
Ken Macintosh
Lab
Indeed. I was just about to suggest to the cabinet secretary that, if he indicates to the committee and to Parliament when he has agreed on a date, so that w...
John Swinney
SNP
The point that I advanced at the committee is that I was not persuaded by a relief for a property transaction whereby the purchaser got the benefit of an inv...
Ken Macintosh
Lab
I welcome the cabinet secretary’s approach. I have sympathy for the non-renewal of a scheme for which there were no successful applications in Scotland.Howev...
Mike MacKenzie (Highlands and Islands) (SNP)
SNP
Does the member accept that, given the progressive nature of the tax, the proposed measure would help those who are further up the ladder more? Those are the...
Ken Macintosh
Lab
Mr MacKenzie raises an interesting point about our desire as a country to reduce carbon emissions. If carbon emissions on larger homes are greater, we need t...
Gavin Brown (Lothian) (Con)
Con
The Scottish Conservatives support the general principles of the bill and we will vote for it at decision time. Much of the bill and much of what the cabinet...
John Swinney
SNP
I confirm that there will be an indication of the licences that are included in the scope. The bill will specify which licences will be covered rather than s...
Gavin Brown
Con
That is helpful, and it is probably the right way to go about it, so I am even more encouraged on licences than I was to begin with.Before I get too carried ...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
We now move to the open debate. I call Jamie Hepburn, to be followed by Malcolm Chisholm. We are a bit tight for time, so I give Mr Hepburn up to six minutes...
Jamie Hepburn (Cumbernauld and Kilsyth) (SNP)
SNP
I welcome this stage 1 debate. The bill is, of course, the first of three bills arising as a consequence of the Scotland Act 2012, and I look forward to scru...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
Con
You have 30 seconds.
Jamie Hepburn
SNP
The block grant will be reduced on a one-off basis for LBTT. We have to get that right. I say to Mr Macintosh that how fairly the Treasury plays on the matte...
Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh Northern and Leith) (Lab)
Lab
I am pleased to take part in this landmark debate, in which we are considering a tax bill for the first time in the history of the Scottish Parliament. I hop...
Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
Although it closes a loophole, on 21 March 2012, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that, with immediate effect, there would be a 15 per cent stamp du...
Malcolm Chisholm
Lab
That is a fair point and I would not disagree.Ensuring that there is no tax avoidance is an important aspect of the bill. The general provision, which will b...
John Mason (Glasgow Shettleston) (SNP)
SNP
It is encouraging that there is widespread welcome for the replacement of SDLT with a simpler and more progressive tax, and especially for the replacement of...
Neil Findlay (Lothian) (Lab)
Lab
Given that John Mason has expressed his excitement about today, will he express some contrition about opposing the Calman commission and the Scotland Act 201...
John Mason
SNP
That question is not quite on subject. Given that Calman proposed a system of block grant reduction that would have damaged Scotland, I have to say that I am...
Michael McMahon (Uddingston and Bellshill) (Lab)
Lab
This is not the first time I have taken part in a stage 1 debate in which there has been very little to say that has not been said already by the time I have...
Mark McDonald (North East Scotland) (SNP)
SNP
I rise as a former member of the Finance Committee. Although I was not part of the stage 1 deliberations on the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland)...
Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD)
LD
I, too, welcome today’s stage 1 debate on the first of a series of bills that are being introduced as a result of a number of tax-raising powers being devolv...