Nicola faces taxing time earning trust of the voters

Will voters trust Nicola’s misfiring band of ministers with even more of their money?

Nicola Sturgeon paved the way to using Holyrood’s tax-varying powers for the first time last week.

It was, if nothing else, a politically literate move. In Scotland, as with everywhere else, you don’t get something for nothing.

Sturgeon launched an expansive programme of legislation which would not come cheap under any circumstance.

A huge roll- out of charging points for electric cars alone might necessitate the income tax hike now being investigated by Sturgeon’s ministers.

On the back of universal benefits like free prescriptions and baby boxes, it’s probably about time everyone faced up to paying more tax again.

At times, political discourse is reduced to a competition around who can ask for the most without even discussing how the bill might be paid.

It’s about time that raising cash, rather than spending it, had its proper place in our national political debate. Within this, though, Sturgeon has one major problem. Will voters trust her misfiring band of ministers with even more of their money?

The revelation that the increasingly sinister figure resident in the White House is to benefit from the Scottish public purse is unlikely to encourage them.

The details of the mechanics behind Scottish Golf Tourism Week do not inspire confidence.

Around £ 100,000 was paid to a private Glasgow- based media company via two government quangos, VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise.

At least some of that money will end up with the 45th US president through his ownership of the Trump Turnberry resort.

The political difficulty with this is all too apparent with Trump’s name being dropped from the official marketing material. That doesn’t make the problem go away though.

The problem Sturgeon has with raising taxes is the same one she has with convincing people to vote Yes in a second referendum. The electorate are not convinced by the calibre of the people running the country with their cash.

Public cash for Trump International is one example. The crisis at the top of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland is another.

Disquiet over NHS waiting times, last year’s ScotRail crisis, confusion over the response to the mesh scandal, continuing problems with class sizes – the list goes on.

Sturgeon has a moral imperative to talk about taxes. She’s right to do so.

Making it work politically will require a steadier next 12 months than the last 12.