Scotland's economy secretary, Kate Forbes, has said she will keep reviewing taxation levels in Scotland after a survey revealed its the main issue businesses worry about.
The Scottish Chamber of Commerce's (SCC) Quarterly Economic Indicator found that 52% of firms are concerned about tax levels in Scotland, overtaking inflation (50%) as businesses main concern.
People in Scotland earning more than £28,867 pay more income tax than those anywhere else in the UK, while a 45% advanced rate was recently introduced for those earning between £75,000 and £125,140.
The SCC survey - which polled more than 400 businesses between February and May - also found that recruitment difficulties increased from 47% to 55% on the previous quester.
“Taxation continues to concern firms, to the extent that the issue has overtaken inflation as the leading concern," said Stephen Leckie, SCC President.
He added: "This is having a major impact in attracting and retaining talent in Scotland, contributing to the significant labour challenges many businesses are already experiencing. Divergence on personal taxation has exacerbated the issue.
“Businesses will be looking to both the Scottish and UK government to set out long-term plans to address the current state of taxation which is impacting growth, investment and talent.”
'We need to keep it under review'
Speaking to BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Forbes conceded that taxation is becoming of "greater significance" now inflation has reduced.
“In terms of taxation more generally, we do need to keep it under review," she said.
She continued: "We have seen the figures from HMRC over the last few years show that there’s still more people coming into Scotland than leaving Scotland, which is important when it comes to recruitment.
"If you look beyond 2017 basically, at the graph, you see a rise across all wage bands of people choosing to move to Scotland, but we said from the moment that tax was devolved that we needed to keep the behavioural impact under review because we do want to attract people to Scotland and I take the comments that the chambers have made seriously."
The deputy first minister also expressed concern about the new UK government not offering Scotland any fundamental change when it comes to Scotland's budget.
She added: "What we need to see is an injection of cash, as it were, into Scotland’s public services and that starts with the UK government taking a different approach to our budget."
A UK government spokesman said: “Growth is a national mission for us, and we are working to make every part of our country better off. As part of this, we are going to partner with businesses throughout the UK to stimulate investment.
“It is vital the tax system supports growth, which is why to help firms plan investments we will retain full expensing, publish a business tax roadmap in due course, and have committed to not increase corporation tax.
“It is for the Scottish government to allocate their funding across their devolved responsibilities. They are accountable to the Scottish people for their decisions.”