Scotland Bill Committee – call for evidence

A call for evidence has been issued by the Scottish Parliament’s new Scotland Bill Committee.  The deadline is 9 September 2011.

The Committee which now has an SNP majority has also asked for comments on devolving control over Corporation Tax and the Crown Estate to the Scottish Parliament and the role of the Supreme Court.

Given the result of the Scottish General Election it will be interesting to see how the Unionist and Federal parties respond to the proposed amendments to the Scotland Bill.

One issue that needs to be looked at again is whether the income tax proposal is workable.

Also, given that the Scottish Parliament is going to gainhave increased fiscal powers under any political scenario we now need to start seriously at creating a Scottish Exchequer that combines the role of HM Treasury and HM Revenue & Customs.

The Scotland Bill Committee’s webpage and “call for evidence” can be found here.

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Call for Air Passenger Duty to be included in Scotland Bill

Scotland’s largest airports have joined together to demand that the UK Government devolves its Air Passenger Duty (APD) to the Scottish Government as part of the Scotland Bill.

The Calman Commission recommended the devolution of APD as part of the Scotland Bill and the Scottish Government has supported this.   However as the UK Government is consulting on changes to aviation duty it has not yet been included in the Scotland Bill.

The press release from BAA Edinburgh can be found here.

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