Taxes may be higher in Scotland but the perks are better, says Paul Lewis

{ Radio Times Money }

I once coined the acronym Tabis – Things Are Better in Scotland – as a shorthand for the forward-looking social policies of that country. And it gets truer all the time. Over the past 25 years devolution has given Scotland limited but growing independence over its social security and tax policies. And they are better.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies reckons the poorest tenth of households in Scotland are £580 a year better off than if they lived in England. That’s paid for by higher taxes. If your income from work, pensions, and rents is over £27,850 and you live in Scotland, you will pay more income tax than if you lived elsewhere in the UK. But, as people often tell me, you get more for that – free prescriptions, for instance (in England most people under 60 pay £9.35 an item).

In fact, Social Security Scotland lists 13 benefits that are better than (or not paid at all in) the rest of the UK, from the £491.40 a year supplement in 2022 paid on top of Carer’s Allowance, to the Adult Disability Payment that has replaced Personal Independence Payment and is based on an assessment procedure said to be fairer and more in tune with disabled people.