TAX BANDITS
IN the coming days the SNP is finally expected to break its long-standing silence on the issue of taxation. It has dropped enough hints about where it wants to go on this matter, revealing its dogmatic intention to make Scotland the highest-taxed part of the UK. But now we are preparing to see for the first time what an SNP government intends to do.
The very fact the Scottish parliament is having this debate is a good thing. Finally, a grownup issue that doesn’t involve independence has arrived at Holyrood, and we look forward to going head-to-head with our political opponents, all of whom want to hit Scots in the pocket.
The further devolution of tax powers to Scotland is welcome, and the SNP is about to find out how challenging it is to set up a fair, sustainable and affordable taxation system. SNP manifestos over the years have constantly suggested that tax hikes are on the horizon, and by failing to mirror UK Government policy on income tax for those in certain brackets, it has increased the rate on some groups of workers by default.
It also charges home buyers more in taxation by setting more punitive stamp duty rates for larger properties than exist in the rest of the UK.
The Nationalists also ended the council tax freeze, which means family homes in places such as Edinburgh, East Renfrewshire and Aberdeen have been hit with hikes, in some cases over £500 a year, to help fund services and get local authorities out of the financial pickle they’ve got themselves into over the years.
BUT it is income tax which really sets the tone, and is the tax which people regard as the most sacred. The SNP, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens would do well to remember that money earned by workers belongs to the workers, and government has a duty to keep its slice of the cake to a minimum and spend the proceeds responsibly.
Instead, they think it is their cash to play with, leaving only the Scottish Conservatives on the side of the honest, hard-working population.
The SNP has been playing a careful game up to now. It’s terrified of alienating the middle classes by increasing tax, knowing it has already haemorrhaged so much of that vote with its endless threat of breaking up Britain. But it is equally scared of the virtuous Left, who can’t think of any better way to raise money or boost the economy than dipping their hands into people’s pockets.
In its defence, Labour has been upfront about the banditry it wants to embark on. Last week not one, but two, potential future leaders of the Scottish Labour Party set out how they would raid taxpayers’ accounts.
It was no shock to see archCorbynista Richard Leonard dictating that he thought people should pay more, businesses should pay more and households, through council tax, should pay more.
Perhaps more surprising was supposed moderate Anas Sarwar also signalling his intention for punishing tax hikes on ordinary workers. In his proposals, it seems almost anyone who is not on the minimum wage will have to cough up more cash for him to spend, probably recklessly.
It’s just not what people want. When Nicola Sturgeon flirted with the idea of higher taxes in her Programme For Government earlier this year, it was the strongest hint yet that workers should brace themselves to be robbed.
A survey carried out shortly afterwards revealed the majority of people were against this idea, feeling that they already paid through the nose to support a government which has failed miserably on health, the economy and education.
Scottish Conservatives, on the other hand, believe that it is wrong for Scots to have to pay more tax than their counterparts across the rest of the UK.
If it is affordable in future, we should actually look at the possibility of reducing the tax burden and creating a low welfare, low tax, high wage and high growth economy.
If you keep taxes low, it will persuade more businesses to invest, and make Scotland a more attractive place for workers to come to from the rest of the UK and beyond. In turn, that generates growth, creates jobs and grows the tax base, meaning more tax receipts with public services boosted as a consequence.
The NHS, schools and infrastructure all benefit from a strong economy. But if you whack taxes up, you are hanging a sign at the Border which reads: ‘Closed for business.’
The funny thing is, the SNP agrees with us on this, or at least it does when it comes to air departure tax (ADT), the replacement for air passenger duty – the tax you pay every time you fly.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay believes that lowering the amount people have to pay to fly into Scotland will result in more visitors and more cash for the tourism industry. It wouldn’t take long for that to make up for the drop in receipts from the ADT cut.
So if that’s the case for air travel, why is it not the SNP’s plan for the economy? Only Mr Mackay and Miss Sturgeon can address that question of idiotic hypocrisy.
FOR a lesson in what happens when you brainlessly increase tax, the Scottish Government just has to look at the land and buildings transaction tax, its replacement for stamp duty. We warned repeatedly that if it charged people more at the higher end of the scale, it would make life harder for those everywhere else.
Two years on, the market has gummed up as properties are not shifting at the top end, making it more difficult for people to get onto the housing ladder, and move from first to second homes. Misery for them, and misery for the public purse, which has tens of millions of pounds less than anticipated.
So the SNP has two choices. Listen to the Scottish Conservatives, keep taxes down and focus on helping growth and business.
Or pander to the Left, punish the people who make our economy what it is and pay the price at the ballot box in four years’ time.
Money earned by workers belongs to the workers