Scottish finances

The estimated £1 billion shortfall in income tax revenues spread over three years that Clark Cross (Letters, 13 June) refers to is part of Westminster’s fiscal game, whereby the Scottish Government cannot run up debt, yet Scotland is charged £3.5 billion a year in GERS as a pro rata share of annual interest on the UK’S national debt of £2 trillion.

Also, a billion shortfall is trivial compared to the £12.7bn a year Scotland’s economy will suffer under a no deal Brexit, which could have been prevented if 25 refusenik and abstaining Labour MPS had backed the cross-party motion before the House of Commons on 12 June which the hard Brexit Tories won

by 11 votes. The estimated tax shortfallhighlightstheabsurdity of devolving income tax to Scotland, but not devolving corporation tax, so that those who divert their income from self-employment into companies can immediately harm the revenue of the Scottish Government without a Scottish minister having any power to control the process.

The same applies to the lack

of National Insurance powers, which allowed Boris Johnson to propose punishing higher earners in Scotland to pay for tax giveaways.

You cannot run an economy with control of a tiny part of the tax system, but Scotland needs proper data to do so rather than unreliable partial estimates provided by the UK government. When we learn that HMRC failed to treat one

third of Scottish MSPS as Scottish taxpayers, it casts serious doubts on the veracity of GERS and other financial data quoted by UK government agencies upon which the Scottish Government relies.

MARY THOMAS Watson Crescent, Edinburgh