Income tax in Scotland should “protect low earners, be progressive, proportionate to the ability to the pay and support the economy,” First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

Sturgeon said: “None of us want to see our cherished public services increasingly constrained in what they can deliver.

“So with all the pressures we now face, we must consider if the time has come for those who earn the most to pay a modest amount more to enable us to do so.”

The comments coincide with the publication of a discussion paper examining the role of income tax in Scotland’s budget.

Sturgeon said any new income tax policy must meet four key tests as she called on all political parties “to engage in an open debate about tax in Scotland.”

Sturgeon said any changes must:

• Maintain and promote the level of public services which the people of Scotland expect;
• Ensure the lowest earning taxpayers don’t see their taxes increase;
• Make the tax system more progressive and reduce inequality; and
• Along with corresponding decisions on spending, support the economy.

Sturgeon said: “Scotland now has a greater measure of fiscal control than at any time since the start of devolution.

“By far the biggest fiscal lever we have is income tax — with 30% of Scotland’s budget now coming from income tax receipts.

“Of course, more than 60% of Scotland’s spending power is still dependent on decisions taken at Westminster.

“With that greater ability to levy tax comes a corresponding duty to do so responsibly and in a balanced way.

“My government will always do exactly that.

“But as the impact of austerity, Brexit and changing demographics bears down even harder, it is now time to ask ourselves some tough questions.

“None of us want to see our cherished public services increasingly constrained in what they can deliver.

“So with all the pressures we now face, we must consider if the time has come for those who earn the most to pay a modest amount more to enable us to do so.

“It is to help aid and inform that discussion that this consultation paper is being published today.

“Let me stress that these alternative approaches are not at this stage firm policy proposals — that will come in the budget.

“Nor do they form an exhaustive list. They simply illustrate some of the options open to us.

“As a government, we will not propose alterations to income tax rates lightly.

“But after rigorous, careful and considered discussion, we will bring forward policy proposals that we consider to be in the interests of the country as a whole.”