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This weekend Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy made the in the debate on inequality – an area fast becoming a key battleground in the run-up to the 2015 UK general election.

Part of a range of measures designed to close the gap between rich and poor, his proposed 50p top rate of income tax for those earning more than £150,000 follows similar pledges from the SNP and Labour’s UK-wide proposals on a Banker’s Bonus tax.

But this focus on ‘bridging the gap’ is only addressing the symptom, rather than the cause of inequality. A flawed diagnosis inevitably leads to poor policy prescriptions.

According to research from Professor David Bell and the economics unit at the University of Stirling, the income gap between the extremes (top 1-2% versus bottom 5-10%) has risen markedly in the past decade.

Inequality is undoubtedly an issue for Scotland and the UK, and our political leaders are right to be concerned about it.

An underlying cause of this wealth gap has been an increase in the lower-level and higher-level paying jobs, and importantly, a drop in mid-level paying jobs – something not uncommon across OECD countries. Such economic adjustments are due to the decline of manufacturing and the rise of service-related industries, which is a product of globalisation.

Inequality will only be addressed if we tackle the underlying causes, rather than giving way to the misleading rhetoric that has become the hallmark of the political debate in Scotland and across the UK more widely.

The current focus on income and redistribution through taxation not only ignores the complex cultural and social factors that are also at play - it could well exacerbate the problem.

Business leaders too are concerned about inequality. Our research into their attitudes in the lead up to the referendum on Scottish independence emphasised the nations’ economic strengths.

But it also highlighted a fear that certain political and policy paths could drive business investment elsewhere, and dampen the wealth creation needed to create a more prosperous society.

We need to move the debate forward, rather than, even inadvertently, treating wealth creation as the problem.

An alternative view would be to debate how we incentivise economic development that lifts more peoples’ wages into the mid-level range.

What is the policy and tax mix needed to encourage more business investment in areas which provide high-value jobs?

How do we use education, skills development and social policy to lift aspirations, provide economic opportunity and break the cultural, economic and social cycles of deprivation that exist in pockets around Scotland and the UK?

But perhaps most importantly we need to carefully consider the trade-offs between wealth creation and income redistribution.

Everyone agrees that a fairer society is desirable. But voters deserve a more informed and intelligent debate on the different paths to creating one.

Professor Brad MacKay is Chair in Strategic Management at University of Edinburgh Business School.