As Robert Buchan has said, we have said in the delegated powers memorandum that there is a synergy between the £40,000 figures that appear in different parts of the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (Scotland) Act 2013. The current policy is for them to be aligned, and an alternative way of reflecting that in the bill would have been to say in new schedule 2A that the figure is the figure that is already in section 30. However, as Robert Buchan has mentioned, because we need to build in flexibility for the future, we have made the figures severable.
We view the new power in the new schedule 2A as similar to the power in section 30 of the 2013 act. That is a relevant precedent that is subject to negative procedure. Having the same procedure applicable means that two measures could be combined in a single instrument, rather than having two measures at different times and subject to different procedures to achieve a common policy intention.
The point about the tax rates and bands orders always being subject to a form of affirmative procedure is absolutely right. I would comment in terms of the section 30 power that if, having no regard to the bill, there was a proposal to vary the notification threshold below £40,000 or above, that would have significant legal consequences for the duties of taxpayers and their agents to send in returns. It might not affect whether tax is payable, but it could have some impact.
The reason why affirmative procedure applied to the first rates of devolved tax was that there were no figures in the first LBTT bill. There was some time between that bill being passed in 2013 and its coming into effect in April 2015. Here, we have an expedited legislative procedure with commencement scheduled in the bill for 1 April. We have all the rates in the bill, so I do not think that there is a comparator for full affirmative procedure. For the reasons that we have set out, we feel that negative procedure strikes the right balance.