A good and fair budget

Sir, – When one looks at the fallout from the Draft Scottish Budget I am reminded of the line in the Stealers Wheel hit, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right.”

While the Conservatives cry crocodile tears about a so-called ‘Nat Tax’, Labour say the Government hasn’t gone far enough. This puts the SNP neatly stuck in the middle of the two. Not a bad place to be dare I say.

Modestly increasing taxes for higher earners but also cutting them for the very lowest, delivering a more progressive tax system, will be welcomed by most. Indeed, polling has shown that a significant majority of Scots support the idea of gradual increases in tax, with higher earners paying more tax and lower earners paying the same or less tax than they currently do.

No one earning less than £33,000 a year will pay any more as a result of the Budget. That’s 1.8 million people, amounting to 70% of taxpayers, while 1.4 million Scottish taxpayers earning less than £26,000 will pay less than if they had lived elsewhere in the UK.

Overall, these tax changes will raise £164 million, allowing the Scottish Government to ‘reverse’ real-terms cuts to Scotland’s resource budget.

Critics have often decried the lack of use of fiscal powers afforded to the Scottish Government, its cautious approach in delivering a ‘progressive’ agenda. Now we have significant divergence with the rest of the UK.

Of course, what people say to pollsters about paying more tax and what they do in practice can be two different matters. This is about to be put to the test.

Alex Orr. Flat 2, 77 Leamington Tce, Edinburgh.