Resources
Explore our curated collection of briefings, research reports, and guides on Global, UK and Scottish issues connected to tax policy.
We know that tax can be complicated. These resources offer expert analysis, concrete policy options as well as clear explanations on how tax reform can create a fairer, more prosperous society.
Whether you seek in-depth insights or straightforward information, you’ll find valuable tools to understand why tax justice is crucial for building a better Scotland.
Please note, these resources do not necessarily represent the positions of Tax Justice Scotland. If you think there is an important resource missing, please let us know at mail@taxjustice.scot.
See below for resources related to tax at Scotland, UK and global levels.
Scotland
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Choosing a fairer future for all
A vision for tax transformation in Scotland (2024)
This briefing from Tax Justice Scotland makes the case for fundamental reforms to devolved and local taxation and then offers some vital short-term recommendations to start transforming our tax system to enable a more equal, prosperous, and sustainable Scotland.
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The case for fair tax reform in Scotland
(2023)
This joint briefing note – created by IPPR Scotland, Oxfam Scotland, Poverty Alliance, CPAG in Scotland, Scottish Women’s Budget Group, One Parent Families Scotland, and the Wellbeing Economy Alliance Scotland – outlines why Scotland desperately needs fairer and better tax to fund action on poverty and inequality, while investing in care and tackling the climate crisis. It also put forwards a range of options for reform.
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Raising taxes to deliver for Scotland
(2023)
This report by Howard Reed, Landman Economics, commissioned by the STUC, explores the options for increasing taxes in Scotland. The research finds that short-run and longer-run tax changes could raise an extra £3.7 billion per year.
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How better tax policy can reduce poverty and inequality
(2023)
This report from the Poverty and Inequality Commission sets out a series of recommendations to fundamentally reform and improve the tax system in Scotland, including by taxing wealth more effectively.
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Taxing Times
Why Scotland needs new, more and better taxes (2022)
This paper from the thinktank Reform Scotland argues that politicians of all stripes must accept change is needed in Scotland to attain higher tax revenues in the long term, as Scotland faces a particular demographic problem – our population will begin to fall during this decade.
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Thinking bigger on tax in Scotland
Using Scotland’s local tax powers to their full potential (2019)
The paper by IPPR Scotland looks at a number of international examples of sub-state taxes, and considers five illustrative examples of potential new forms of local tax and local funding arrangements in Scotland.
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Financing Climate Justice
Fiscal Measures for Climate Action in a time of crisis (2022)
This report commissioned by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, examines how policymakers can use fiscal measures – anything where a flow of money is used to change behaviour or raise money to fund priorities – to help accelerate and fund Scotland’s climate ambitions.
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Cleared for take-off
A private jet tax for Scotland (2024)
This discussion paper from Oxfam Scotland calls for a Private Jet Tax in Scotland and across the rest of the UK, while setting out a wider package of options to better tax this luxury mode of transportation and to start managing aviation demand.
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It’s time for a Carbon Emission Land Tax
(2024)
This paper by the John Muir Trust makes the case for a Carbon Land Tax in Scotland, which would apply to landholdings over 1,000 ha and promote land use change on a landscape scale.
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Fairer Share
The Proportional Property Tax (2021)
This manifesto from Fairer Share, a campaign for Council Tax reform, makes the case for a proportional property tax charged as a fixed flat percentage of property value, based on accurate and up-to-date valuations.
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Taxing Land In Scotland
(2024)
This paper from the thinktank Common Weal proposes to apply the principles of a percentage of value Property Tax to the ownership of land estimating the revenue that each of Scotland’s Local Authorities could bring in and finding that it would substantially or completely close currently projected Local Authority budget shortfalls.
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An Evaluation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme
(2022)
This report by the Fraser of Allander Institute, commissioned by the Scottish Government presents the results of an evaluation of the Small Business Bonus Scheme (SBBS), and provides recommendations in relation to the SBBS and non-domestic rates relief more broadly.
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UK
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The Taxing Wealth Report
(2024)
The Taxing Wealth Report from Richard Murphy shows that by making a range of relatively simple changes to existing UK taxes, up to £90 billion of new tax revenue could be raised a year, entirely from those who are well off or who are straightforwardly wealthy.
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Supporting the status quo
How the taxation of wealth in the UK grows regional divides (2024)
This report from IPPR makes the case for fairer taxation of wealth to regionally rebalance our economy, correcting widening inequalities in wealth, and consequently in health, power, opportunity and living standards. It shows that under the status quo, our tax system drives regional wealth inequality up.
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Who would be affected by Capital Gains Tax reform?
(2024)
This briefing from the Centre for the Analysis of Taxation (CenTax) presents research on the distribution of capital gains and characteristics of taxpayers who receive them. It contributes to the debate on Capital Gain Tax (CGT) reform by outlining who would be most affected by changes to this tax.
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Global
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Taxing extreme wealth
What countries around the world could gain from progressive wealth taxes (2024)
This paper from the Tax Justice Network models how much tax countries can raise by following the example of Spain’s wealth tax on the richest 0.5%.
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State of Tax Justice 2024
(November 2024)
This paper shows that countries are losing US$492 billion in tax a year to multinational corporations and wealthy individuals using tax havens to underpay tax. Nearly half the losses (43%) are enabled by the eight countries that remain, as of writing, opposed to a UN tax convention: Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the UK and the US.
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