SNP TAX RAID IS ‘NAKED GREED’
Swinney: Cash grab is coming Critics’ alarm over bill threat Sturgeon: Indyref 2 ‘soon’
SCOTS have been given a clear warn- ing from the SNP that tax bills will rocket next year.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney yesterday told the party’s annual conference: ‘We have to put resources in place to pay for all of our commitments.’
This triggered fears that hard-working families face paying a high price for the SNP’s ‘naked greed’.
When First Minister Nicola Sturgeon unveiled her Programme for Government last month, she admitted that ‘the time is right’ to consider increasing income tax rates in Scotland to provide more funding for public services.
In other developments as the SNP conference got
under way at the SEC Centre in Glasgow yesterday:
Miss Sturgeon claimed the case for tearing Scotland out of the UK gets ‘stronger by the day’ and that she could decide on the timetable for another referendum as early as next year;
According to a poll, only one in five Scots is convinced by the economic case for independence and nearly half think Miss Sturgeon and Alex Salmond misrepresented the economic argument in 2014;
Mr Swinney unveiled a desperate bid to tackle the schools recruitment crisis by offering £20,000 grants to people who switch careers and train to be teachers in shortage subjects;
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay demanded that the public sector pay cap for Scottish civil servants in roles reserved to Westminster must be lifted by the UK Government.
The SNP made Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK last year by freezing the threshold for paying the 40p higher rate of tax at £43,000, despite this rising to £45,000 across the UK.
Miss Sturgeon has said she will consider opposition proposals to hike taxes, including adding 1p on all tax bands.
She has also unveiled a series of spending plans, including an end to the 1 per cent public sector pay cap and the extension of free personal care for the elderly to those under 65, which will come at huge cost to the public purse.
Dean Lockhart, economy spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘People in Scotland rightly see no good reason why we should be the highest taxed part of the UK.
‘That will damage the economy and punish those who work hard to make a living. It will also put businesses at a competitive disadvantage with those elsewhere in Britain.
‘Instead of this naked greed hitting people in the pocket, the SNP should be coming up with ways to grow the tax base and make Scotland a low-tax, high wage economy.’
Miss Sturgeon has refused to rule out raising all tax bands, including the 20p rate paid by workers earning more than £11,500 and the 40p rate on earnings above £43,000.
Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics show, Mr Swinney said: ‘As a government we have to put the resources in place to pay for all of our commitments and we have done that consistently over our ten years in office.
‘As we go forward, we’ve opened up a debate about tax policy which will inform the budget process that the Finance Secretary brings to parliament in December, and clearly we want to engage with other parties and the public in Scotland about the right choices to make on tax.’
The Scottish Greens – who gave the SNP their support to get its Budget through parliament – support much higher taxes, as do Labour and the Lib Dems, with only the Tories fighting against increases.
A Scottish Daily Mail poll last month showed that only 13 per cent of Scots think the basic rate should rise.
In his speech to conference today, Mr Mackay will insist the public sector pay cap will be lifted ‘come what may’.
Last week, Stephen Barclay, economic secretary to the Treasury, told the Mail that the twin threat of tax rises and a second referendum ‘creates uncertainty which is unhelpful for business’.
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