Tax justice is a human rights issue

Professor Angela O’Hagan, Chair of the Scottish Human Rights Commission, recently delivered a keynote speech at our Talking Tax event looking at the Role of Tax in a Fairer and Greener Future in Edinburgh. Professor Angela O’Hagan made the human rights case for tax justice.

Note: Tax Justice Scotland is seeking to promote a better conversation on tax policy. As such, the views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Tax Justice Scotland and its diverse supporters.

When we talk about tax, most people think of numbers, rates, bands, and budgets. But tax is not just about money. It’s about human rights. 

Every decision about how we raise and spend public funds shapes whether people in Scotland can live with dignity. It shapes whether they can access healthcare, secure housing, good education, and social security that allows them to thrive, not just survive.

That’s why tax justice is a human rights issue.

Scotland has signed up to international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) through the UK. These treaties require governments to use the maximum available resources to progressively realise rights like health, housing, education, and an adequate standard of living.

That obligation isn’t just about how we divide the budget “pie”. It’s about whether we’re making the pie as big, and as fairly shared, as it needs to be. Governments must ask not only how money is spent, but how it is raised.

A fair tax system is therefore a tool for dignity and equality. It must be progressive, and those with the greatest ability to pay should contribute the most. It must also be non-discriminatory so that low-income households are not unfairly burdened. It must be transparent and participatory. Consultation without listening is not meaningful participation. People deserve a genuine voice in shaping the system that funds their rights.

Where we are now

Scotland has taken some welcome steps toward more progressive income tax, making modest changes at both lower and higher ends of the income scale. But the system still leaves middle-income earners squeezed, reflecting the structure of Scotland’s economy, a landscape marked by low-paid jobs, a large public sector, and unevenly shared wealth in tech and finance.

Despite years of discussion, reform of local taxation remains unfinished business. I was a member of the Commission on Local Tax Reform, set up by the Scottish Government in 2015.  While it produced well-researched proposals from a land value tax to wealth taxes, almost a decade on from our report, these ideas continue to orbit government policy like distant comets, sparking interest but never landing with impact.

Meanwhile, wealth continues to be taxed less than income, tax loopholes allow avoidance, and there is limited transparency in fiscal decision-making.

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its latest review of the UK, made this clear. The Committee concluded that fiscal policy across the UK, including Scotland, is failing to tackle inequality or mobilise the resources needed to uphold rights. It urged governments to adopt a more progressive, socially just tax system to allow for increased spending on essentials like housing, health, and education, and to take stronger action against tax evasion and financial secrecy, including on the use the Crown Dependencies as tax havens.

A disconnect between policy and people

The SHRC’s work with the Open Budget Initiative reveals that Scotland scores reasonably on budget scrutiny, but less well on transparency and public participation. Consultations and “conversations” about tax have too often failed to lead to meaningful change.

At the same time, public trust in the “social contract” — the idea that everyone contributes fairly and in return enjoys universal rights — is fraying. Disabled people, for example, continue to face barriers to adequate income and services. Without a human rights framework guiding fiscal policy, decisions risk making things worse, not better.

This disconnect is visible in the day-to-day realities people face — rising living costs, wage stagnation, and public services under pressure. At the SHRC we listened hard in Challenge Poverty Week and heard again and again that energy bills have soared, and the absence of social tariffs hits lower earners hardest. Recent rail fare changes benefit commuters with steady incomes but disadvantage disabled people who have lost travel discounts. These are policy choices, and without human rights guiding them, they often deepen existing inequalities.

Why it matters

Economic disadvantage translates directly into poorer health, shorter lives, and fewer opportunities. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the death rate among low-paid workers was three times that of higher earners. Many of those workers were women and people from Black and minority ethnic backgrounds – the same groups often left behind by economic and fiscal policy.

Wealth inequality has widened dramatically over the past four decades, fuelled in part by the way we tax income and wealth. If we allow avoidance and tax abuse to continue unchecked, we are not using the maximum available resources to protect and fulfil people’s human rights, which is a requirement of international human rights law.

A human rights-based tax system would make fairness its foundation. It would commit to a progressive approach to taxation of income, wealth, land and to local taxes, and require equality and human rights impact assessments for every major fiscal decision.

Crucially, it would put participation at the centre, with independent mechanisms that allow people to understand, scrutinise, and shape how taxes are raised and spent. It would connect taxation directly to rights outcomes such as decent homes, accessible healthcare, strong education, quality social care, and a just transition to a green economy.

And because fairness doesn’t stop at national borders, it would also mean working internationally to prevent a “race to the bottom” in corporate taxation, ensuring companies and the wealthy contribute their fair share everywhere they operate.

Overcoming the barriers

Reforming tax in Scotland is not easy. Political reluctance, outdated systems like the council tax, and the tendency to treat fiscal policy as a technocratic rather than democratic process all stand in the way. But accountability and participation can change that. Civil society, independent oversight bodies, and an engaged public all have a role in holding governments to their human rights obligations.

Tax justice is human rights justice. It’s about linking values and value and ensuring our fiscal choices are explainable, lawful, fair, and trusted.

A fair tax system is the foundation of a fairer, greener Scotland. The question is whether we are ready to put our money where our mouth is and design a system that enables rights to be realised for everyone.