From Scottish tax payers comparison to English counterparts: FOI release, published last Friday:

On Tuesday 13th January 2026, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government whilst addressing Holyrood stated that: “As a result, even more people in Scotland can expect to pay less tax than if they lived in England, Northern Ireland or Wales. That’s over 55 per cent of Scots set to pay less income tax because they live in Scotland.” Please can you supply the following information.

1. What was the specific median income figure used in the production of this data?

2. What was the income figure used to produce the 55% analysis point on the income scale?

3. What date were these figures in 1 and 2 valid?

4. Are the figures in 1 and 2 related to all Scottish income tax payers, or those currently in employment?

5. What is the total number of people this 55% figure is related to?

6. Is this 55% figure based on forecast or actual income?

Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600511053/

Here are the answers extracted and checked:

1. Specific median income figure used – £31,136 gross and £30,350 net of deductions.
These appear in tab “Figure S4.15” of the SFC’s “Chapter 4 – Tax – Supplementary Figures” that accompanied the forecasts. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600501499/

2. Income figure used for the 55% analysis point – Around £33,500. This is the approximate crossover/breakeven point (shown in tab “Figure S4.16” of the same SFC supplementary figures) at which Scottish taxpayers are expected to begin paying more income tax than they would elsewhere in the UK. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600501499/

3. Date the figures in 1 and 2 were valid – They are the latest available figures produced by the Scottish Fiscal Commission to accompany the Scottish Budget 2026-27, specifically from Scotland’s Economic and Fiscal Forecasts – January 2026 (published 13 January 2026, with some later minor revisions). https://fiscalcommission.scot/publications/scotlands-economic-and-fiscal-forecasts-january-2026/

4. Scope of the figures (all taxpayers or those in employment) – They relate to all Scottish income taxpayers (not limited to those currently in employment). https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600501499/

5. Total number of people the 55% figure relates to – The over-55% figure uses 1,763,093 taxpayers (gross) or 1,809,984 (net of deductions). These are the counts below the relevant threshold that can be calculated from tab “Figure S4.16” of the SFC supplementary figures; they represent the group expected to pay less than under rest-of-UK rates. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600501499/

6. Forecast or actual income? – It is based on forecasts. The SFC explicitly states that the 2026-27 estimates in the relevant supplementary figure are forecast-based. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600501499/

These details are publicly available via the FOI release on gov.scot and the SFC’s January 2026 forecast publications and supporting spreadsheets. Note that such percentage claims are sensitive to the exact income distribution, treatment of deductions (e.g., pension contributions), and later outturn data, which can differ from forecasts.