How Sturgeon plans to impose 50p tax on UK
‘Pull the strings of a Corbyn government’
NICoLA Sturgeon will use her stranglehold over Jeremy Corbyn in a ‘coalition of chaos’ to force up income tax across the whole of the UK, it was claimed last night.
The SNP manifesto said the party wanted to see the additional rate of income tax rise from 45p to 50p throughout the country from 2018/19.
It would hit those on more than £150,000 a year and the money would be used to fund an extra £118billion of public spending and a ‘plan to end Tory cuts’ by ditching austerity completely.
Miss Sturgeon’s call for higher income tax will spark accusations of hypocrisy because she has refused to introduce a 50p rate in Scotland alone. As the nation’s first minister she has the power to do so under devolution, but said she did not want to do so because her government did not have the power to tackle tax avoidance.
The SNP manifesto commitment raises the prospect that she would make the income tax increase a key demand in coalition negotiations with Labour should Theresa May fail to gain a majority.
Labour’s manifesto, unveiled two weeks ago, also supported moves to raise the additional rate of income tax to 50p.
But the Tories warn that such an increase would lead to an increase in tax avoidance and thus a reduction in revenue.
The SNP’s manifesto, launched by Miss Sturgeon in Perth yesterday, also said that the party would demand an end to the marriage tax allowance, which was introduced by David Cameron.
It said the party would not support Tory plans to reduce corporation tax – and it demanded an end to the two-child cap on tax credits, which reduces the amount that people with large families can claim.
Last night the Tories said the SNP’s policy platform showed the danger of allowing Miss Sturgeon to put Mr Corbyn in Downing Street and ‘pull the strings’ of his government.
Conservative chairman Patrick McLoughlin said: ‘This manifesto makes clear the price we’d pay for that – higher taxes, more borrowing, weaker defences.
‘And with Brexit negotiations starting 11 days after people vote – you’d have a totally shambolic Jeremy Corbyn propped up by a coalition of chaos in the seat for Britain.
‘If you don’t think Jeremy Corbyn is fit to be Prime Minister, if you don’t think he’s up to negotiating Brexit, if you oppose a second referendum – vote Conservative.’
The SNP’s manifesto listed ten key pledges, of which one of them was ‘fair tax’. The document said: ‘Setting rates of income tax is now the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament.
‘In the current financial year, we have frozen the basic rate of income tax to help low and middle earners – and we have opted not to cut tax for higher rate taxpayers through an increase in the higher rate threshold.
‘Until such time as the Scottish Parliament controls the rules on income tax avoidance, there is a risk that an increase in the additional rate of income tax in Scotland alone would lead to a loss of revenue. However, we support an increase in the additional rate from 45p to 50p across the UK as a whole from 2018/19.’
It went on: ‘At a time when household budgets are under increasing pressure, SNP MPs will oppose any proposed increases in value added tax or National Insurance.
‘ We will also support the reversal of the married couple’s allowance, the reversal of the reductions to the bank levy and the introduction of a tax on bankers’ bonuses.’
The manifesto also sets out a ‘plan to end Tory cuts’, freeing up £ 118billion of public money across the UK over the term of the next parliament, Miss Sturgeon said.
It also gave its support to increasing the ‘real living wage’ to just over £10 an hour by the end of the next parliament, as part of a ‘three-point plan to tackle poverty and inequality’. SNP MPs at Westminster would also support the reversal of the two-child cap on tax credits.