DOUGLAS Ross has been urged to publish more of his tax returns in line with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
The Scottish Tory leader – who earns a salary as an MP and MSP - only revealed one year of his tax returns despite Sturgeon publishing all of hers from 2015/16 onwards earlier this week.
SNP depute leader Keith Brown has described Ross’s move as a “cop out” and called on him to show “full transparency” on his secondary income as a football referee and linesman.
Brown said: “Douglas Ross needs to follow the lead of the First Minister and fully publish his tax returns since 2015/16 instead of the one-year publication we have seen so far.
“He had previously ‘forgotten’ to declare £30,000 of income from the SFA and so he needs to be fully open and transparent about what tax he pays on that money too.
“It is not good enough for Douglas Ross to just pick and choose which tax returns he wants to show us.
“If he has nothing to hide then surely he should have no problem with publishing the same number of tax returns as the First Minister has?”
Ross – who takes a reduced MSP salary - made no money from refereeing in the 2021/22 tax year because he was prevented from officiating any matches due to injury during that period, the Scottish Conservatives said.
His tax return showed he received £17,223 pre-tax – paying £6788 to HMRC that year.
This was a pro-rata salary because he only took his Scottish Parliament seat in May 2021, so his income does not amount to a full-year salary.
The Scottish Parliament website shows MSPs who also sit as MPs should receive a salary of £22,221 per year.
He recorded pre-tax income from his job as an MP of £72,821 for the period – paying £18,594 to the state.
His return also showed he had claimed expenses worth £3873 as an MSP.
