Poll finds Scots don’t want to pay more in income tax than any other part of the UK
SCOTS voters have sent a stark warning to Nicola Sturgeon not to hit families with higher taxes as the SNP prepares to unveil plans for Holyrood’s historic new powers.
An exclusive opinion poll for the Scottish Daily Mail has revealed widespread opposition to the prospect of Scotland becoming the most taxed nation in the UK.
Only a quarter of Scots want a 1p rise in the basic rate of income tax, which is a Labour and Lib Dem policy.
But the findings will also cause a major headache for the First Minister, as support for cutting the basic rate is greater among SNP voters than Labour or even Tory ones. Only four in ten Scots believes the top rate of income tax should be increased from 45p – a Nationalist policy – amid warnings that wealthy workers will simply move south of the Border.
The Survation poll also reveals just
‘Burden is already
high enough’
over one-third of Scots want the wage threshold for paying the middle 40p rate of income tax to be frozen at £43,600 – despite the SNP ‘urging caution’ over Chancellor George Osborne’s plan to help the squeezed middle by raising the threshold in England.
The findings come only days after a long-awaited deal on the Scotland Bill was agreed between Holyrood and Westminster, giving a green light to the unprecedented devolution of tax and welfare powers.
Today, the Scottish Government will start to unveil its plans for the next five years and is expected to embark on a benefits spending spree.
Our poll shows Miss Sturgeon is almost certain to win May’s election and Scotland will have another term of Nationalist government, lasting until 2021. Labour continues to trail far behind, despite announcing a raft of policies. The Tories remain in third place.
MSPs will have complete control of all income tax bands and rates, worth around £11billion, from April 2017, with sweeping new powers over welfare payments also on the way.
The SNP has repeatedly promised to introduce a more ‘progressive’ system but there are fears that Scots will be hit with the highest bills in the UK.
Scottish Tory chief whip John Lamont said: ‘This poll shows just how popular our demand is that people in Scotland do not pay more tax than those elsewhere in the UK. We believe the tax burden on hardworking people is already high enough and we should be seeking to reduce it, not increase it.’
The poll of more than 1,000 Scots aged 16 and over, carried out by Survation between February 25 and 29, found only 24 per cent back a 1p rise – with support highest among Labour voters. Forty-one per cent of respondents said they want the basic rate to remain unchanged and 18 per cent want a 1p cut – including 22 per cent of SNP backers, 15 per cent of those planning to vote Tory and 11 per cent of Labour supporters.
A Scottish Labour spokesman said: ‘Scottish politics has changed in the last few weeks because of Kez Dugdale’s bold plan to use the powers of the Scottish parliament to stop the SNP’s cuts to schools.’
But Aberdeen Donside Nationalist MSP Mark McDonald said: ‘ Labour are wrong to think their half-baked tax plans will end Tory austerity – they will only shift the burden on to low-paid workers by hiking up their tax bills.’
The SNP has, however, supported Labour’s plan to return the top 45p rate of income tax to 50p, on salaries of £150,000 or more. Thirty-eight per cent of respondents said the top rate should be increased, including 44 per cent of SNP supporters, while 34 per cent of all Scots said there should be no change and 13 per cent backed a cut.
The Mail recently revealed there was a 60 per cent rise in the number of workers paying the middle 40p level of income tax in the last UK parliament. Mr Osborne has vowed to raise the salary threshold from £43,000 in 201617 to £43,600 in 2017-18 and £50,000 by the end of the decade.
In our poll, 27 per cent of Scots backed him and said the threshold should rise – including 22 per cent of SNP voters. Thirty-five per cent said the level should be frozen at £43,600, which is Labour’s plan, and 15 per cent said it should be reduced – including 20 per cent of SNP supporters.
Views are split on local authority funding, with 39 per cent in favour of an increase in council tax and 32 per cent wanting a reduction in services.
Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil will today unveil the SNP’s plans to revamp social security from 2017. But spendi ng on the welfare powers to be devolved next year is already growing at more than five times the rate of the UK’s overall benefits bill.