Scottish Budget 2026 to 2027: public attitudes to tax

Engagement in 2025

In September 2025, we held our inaugural Scottish Government Tax Conference. This event brought together stakeholders from across Scotland to discuss topical tax policy issues, such as wealth taxation, Council Tax reform, and land taxation. The event helped to progress conversations on a range of key areas of tax policy.

Throughout 2025, we also held four meetings of the Tax Advisory Group, which includes representatives from academia, business and local government. They discussed issues including Council Tax reform, our Areas of Research Interest, and approaches to wealth taxation.

We also conducted engagement on specific taxes. In Spring 2025, we held a public consultation on the future of the Scottish Landfill Communities Fund, which ran for 12 weeks, and invited views on changes to this fund.

As part of our review of Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT), we have undertaken a range of engagement, including with industry experts and Revenue Scotland.

On Scottish Income Tax, we have been engaging with business organisations to discuss how this tax impacts on business competitiveness. We also engage regularly with colleagues in HMRC, working constructively together on our shared goals.

On Non-Domestic Rates (NDR), we hold a regular consultative group with the Minister for Public Finance, exploring how the NDR system can best support business growth, investment, and competitiveness, while acknowledging the important role income from NDR plays in funding public services. Two Scottish Hospitality Roundtables also provided the opportunity to discuss ongoing issues, including NDR.

In collaboration with the Scottish Policy and Research Exchange, we ran a roundtable event with academic researchers to raise awareness and encourage engagement on our Areas of Research Interest (ARIs), as published in our Tax Strategy. Officials also attended the Tax Research Network conference in September 2025, and hosted a poster stall to promote the ARIs to UK and international researchers.

On Air Departure Tax (ADT), we engaged with aviation and third sector stakeholders through an aviation workshop held in September, building on the publication of our High-Level Principles in June.

As part of our engagement on the Building Safety Levy, we held a public consultation this year as well as ongoing engagement with organisations like Homes for Scotland and Scottish Property Federation. We also engaged with property developers, the build to rent sector, local authorities, and organisations representing rural and island interests.

Finally, as part of work exploring Council Tax reform, we launched a public consultation in October 2025, which you can find here, seeking views on options for potential reforms. To help build consensus on this, we are also conducting various stakeholder events, including town hall meetings across Scotland.

In advance of the Scottish Budget, the Scottish Government also conducts annual research on public attitudes to tax. This research also includes information on where people find information on tax, and their knowledge and understanding of the tax system.

The Scottish Government is committed to being an open government and transparent with its data in relation to fiscal policy. As such, the information which has been collected is being published alongside the Scottish Budget.

Scottish Ministers also chair pre-Budget roundtables with a range of stakeholders to understand their views on taxation ahead of making decisions on tax policy. Two roundtables took place in late 2025: one chaired by Shona Robison MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government and one chaired by Ivan McKee MSP, Minister for Public Finance.

This engagement and the research on public attitudes to tax form part of the evidence base considered by Ministers in making decisions on tax policy, alongside a wider range of evidence including independent forecasts provided by the Scottish Fiscal Commission.