Pain of SNP tax grab

THE SNP’s income tax plans are reckless and ill-thought-out.

Finance Secretary Derek Mackay may have insisted new tax bands would create a fairer Scotland but the truth is that they will simply hurt the ambitious and create an uneven playing field across the UK.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the SNP’s new tax regime is the fact it stood – until now – to hit members of the Armed Forces stationed in Scotland, who will be required to hand over more of their income than that expected from comrades south of the Border.

The Daily Mail has condemned the SNP for this wrong-headed, divisive plan so we are pleased the UK Government is to step in and compensate those members of the Armed Forces whose taxes are set to rise.

The SNP was so keen to flex its muscles on tax that it was happy to penalise those who risk their lives to defend us. What a miserable state of affairs.

Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has done the decent thing by stepping in to clear up the SNP’s mess but it is a great pity that he had to. The SNP’s instinct is to grab what it can from family budgets but the party’s tax plans make little sense.

They stand to make Scotland a less attractive place to build a career, and act as a disincentive to work hard.

Thanks to the UK Government, this will no longer be an issue for 8,000 members of the Armed Forces. But for many others, the SNP’s tax grab will soon be painfully real.