Middle earners hit by tax hike
Jim Duffy has some advice for the US House Speaker on how to control her feelings and avoid Trump winning
Income tax rates in Scotland are to be frozen next year, but middle earners face a hike in the amount they pay.
The Scottish Government Budget unveiled yesterday will keep all five income tax rates at the same rate as last year.
But the decision means anyone earning more than £43,430 will fall under the 41 per cent “higher” rate, affecting almost 400,000 taxpayers.
Almost 400,000 Scots middle-earners face fresh income tax hikes in the coming year after a freeze in thresholds was announced in yesterday’s Budget.
The decision means anyone earning more than £43,430 will fall under the 41 per cent “higher” rate and will result in an extra £149 being paid by 370,000 taxpayers as part of the spending plans for 2020-21.
Public finance minister Kate Forbes, standing in after Derek Mackay’s shock departure, set out the Budget. Flanked by Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney, she told MSPS Scotland had the “fairest” tax system in the UK.
The Budget will keep all five Scots income tax rates at the same rate as last year. The thresholds for the lower “basic” and “intermediate” rates will rise in line with inflation, but the “higher” and “top” rates – starting at £43,431 – have been frozen.
It means about 19,000 Scots will be sucked into the higher rate next year who didn’t expect to be, paying up to £149 extra. About 370,000 existing higher and top rate earners will see an increase of £149.
The move will bring in an extra £51 million a year for the Government. Ms Forbes said: “Scotland continues to have the fairest and most progressive income tax system in the UK, with more than half of taxpayers paying less income tax in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK.
“Based on commitments made by the UK Government in their Autumn Budget 2018, we do not expect any further increase in income tax divergence between Scotland and the rest of the UK this year. It is now up to the UK Government to ensure that divergence does not increase when they deliver their Budget on 11 March.”
More than half of Scottish income taxpayers (56 per cent) will pay less tax than if they lived anywhere else in the UK.
The Tories had called for no further divergence in personal taxation between Scots and those elsewhere in the UK.
But party finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: “What the minister announced today on tax threshold will widen the tax differential and that’s not something we could support.”
He added: “The SNP has to go back to the drawing board and make improvements if it wants to win our support.”
During her statement, Ms Forbes set out plans to introduce a new 2 per cent rate of land and buildings transactions tax on residential properties worth more than £2m.
A package of funding to accelerate Scotland’s transition to a net-zero economy was also unveiled, including £1.8 billion of investment in low carbon infrastructure that will help reduce emissions.
She also announced a record investment of £15bn in health and care services and £645m for the expansion of early learning and childcare.
Ministers will provide £21m to fund the new Scottish child payment – a £10-a-week grant aimed at helping poorer families, being brought in this year.
Overall, Ms Forbes said ministers would spend no less than £1.4bn next year in helping low-income households.
Councils are to get an extra £494m after a warning in the build-up to the Budget that frontline services were close to breaking point.
But Gail Macgregor, resources spokeswoman with local government body Cosla, said this included Scottish Government commitments of £590m, which means an effective cut to budget of £95m.
“This is £95m in hard cash that will need to be taken out of frontline services for communities,” she said.
Communities minister Aileen Campbell said it was a “fair settlement”. A Budget Bill is due to be voted on by MSPS in three weeks’ time.
Well, if you can’t remove a sitting president through articles of impeachment, at least you can rip up his State of the Union speech, right? Knowing that she had no chance of winning the impeachment debate in the Senate the next day, Nancy Pelosi was most certainly not in the best of moods as President Donald Trump turned up to tell everyone how amazing he is.
As is customary at the beginning of the ceremony, Pelosi extended her hand to the president. But, he was having none of that and it looked like he blatantly snubbed her. Red rag to a bull...
As the president then pontificated on how America was topping the charts across the globe, one could feel the emotion brewing within Pelosi. As commentators on the CNN news channel later suggested that Trump was lying through his teeth about “his” achievements throughout his address, it was clear that Pelosi felt the same way.
So, what does she do at the end as the president lapped up his applause from his lapdogs? She dramatically tears up the speech in sheer disdain. Oh, how she cannot hide her contempt for Trump and the fact that he keeps on beating her. Even she, a seasoned politician with many years under her belt, cannot cope with the emotions that we human beings are blessed with.
Emotions are indeed a blessing and curse at the same time. They set us aside from other mammals, but I’m not sure for good or bad.
It all starts in the limbic part of the brain, which is responsible for emotions. The limbic system is a complex set of structures that lies on both sides of the thalamus. It is responsible for three key functions as we go about our daily business, emotion, memory and arousal. It seems that stimulating different parts of the limbic system can trigger emotional behaviour, such as aggression. It is said that “emotional” people, and I am one of these creatures, can calm their limbic system using meditation, music, prayer and exercise. And if I think about it, exercise is the one that works for me. But, what about poor old Nancy?
Of course, she probably had the shredgate episode planned for weeks. At least that is what the conspiracy theorists are suggesting. They say she was manipulative in that she knew that the whole world would see her actions as she stood behind the most powerful man in the world.
It was choreographed and clinically orchestrated, say others in the media. I’m not so sure. I actually think she would have jumped over the table and shoved it down his throat if she could have.
Why? Because she cannot stomach the man, the myth and the way he governs. It is all shrouded in emotion.
I guess if we look back at many episodes in our lives that we regret, emotions played a big part. Arguments, heated discussions, fights and fallouts all blinded by emotion as the rational part of our brain is overcome by the limbic part. It happens everyday in schools, offices, public transport, pubs and most definitely behind the wheel of a car. In short, anywhere where human beings come into contact.
While I do not dwell on the past, there have been many instances where the emotional side of my brain has taken over and the actions have fallen short of good behaviour. But even as I grow old, I still get emotional. Good emotions as well as bad. I cry a lot quicker at sad movies nowadays. I well up when I