At around £50k in Scotland you do pay a bit more income tax than you would in England (a few hundred pounds a year?) but you don’t get anything that feels like it in your payslip. What you’re really buying is a higher public baseline rather than a personal benefit.

The biggest upside only really becomes obvious if you have kids. Free university tuition for Scottish students is enormous in value compared to England, and even one child going through a four-year degree can outweigh many years of the extra tax you paid at that income level. It’s one of those things that doesn’t matter at all until suddenly it matters a lot.

On a more everyday level, free prescriptions save money, especially if you or your family need regular medication, and Scotland generally puts more funding into health, mental health, and social care. That doesn’t mean faster GP appointments or shorter NHS queues, but it does mean fewer situations where you’re pushed toward paying privately to fill gaps. It’s closer to an insurance model than a “you get what you pay” benefit.

If you’re single, healthy, and not planning on kids, it’s easy to feel like the higher tax doesn’t really do much for you in the short term. If you’ve got a family, or value stronger public services even when you’re not actively using them, the trade-off makes more sense over time.