Grubby Greens prop up a tax grab Budget
THE Left’s favourite and most meaningless platitude – ‘progressive’ – featured heavily in yesterday’s Budget debate.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay hailed his proposed new tax regime not only as ‘progressive’, but also as ‘the best deal for taxpayers in the whole of the UK’.
Only in the hermetically sealed bubble of Holyrood could there be such a bizarre interpretation of a brazen assault on the finances of more than 1million Scots.
All of this was made possible by the Greens, who propped up the SNP in a grubby backroom pact that betrays thousands of hard-working and ambitious Scots.
It was an unedifying stitch-up between a failing government and the Greens’ co-convener, Patrick Harvie. This is a man who, despite nearly 15 years at Holyrood, has never been elected in a constituency vote – while his party garnered just 163,598 votes at the last Holyrood poll.
Yet Mr Harvie relished holding the whiphand in the talks that allowed the Nationalists’ Budget to gain MSPs’ preliminary approval yesterday.
Despite ‘Tory austerity’, and indeed Brexit, Mr Mackay was able to find some extra cash to meet Green demands, including a call for marine conservation areas for dolphins.
Scottish Tory MSP Murdo Fraser was right to mock the ‘ever-faithful’ Mr Harvie yesterday for ‘saving the SNP’s bacon’ – with the Greens revealed again as a ‘wholly owned subsidiary’ taking ‘orders from head office’.
The unmistakable signal sent out by yesterday’s vote is that aspiration and enterprise are no longer considered worthy of reward in Scotland.
In the SNP’s original Budget, the higher rate threshold began at £44,273. But now the Greens’ intervention means that level has been cut to £43,430.
Those workers within that limit now face paying an extra £169 in income tax each year – meaning nearly 400,000 people will have to pay more.
And yet higher rate taxpayers have a pivotal role to play in revitalising a sluggish economy.
Figures from the independent Scottish Fiscal Commission show Scotland’s GDP is projected to grow at 0.7 per cent in 2018, and 0.9 per cent in 2019.
This would put Scotland at the bottom of the table of developed countries.
Extraordinary levels of waste by a government wedded to populist giveaways – from baby boxes to ‘free prescriptions’ – are stoking economic stagnation.
In addition, the public sector accounts for more than a fifth of total employment in Scotland, compared with 16.9 per cent south of the Border. Swathes of quangos and charities – in fact operating as another arm of government – swallow up millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money each year.
In this context, it is more urgent than ever that government should be attempting to kick-start entrepreneurialism.
Instead the SNP has created an enormous disincentive for any new-start venture to launch in Scotland, as they now face the threat of tax hikes, crippling business rates – and an increase in council tax.
Several billions have been lost to the economy by the Scottish Government’s decision to ban fracking – another method of appeasing its Green allies.
Repeated warnings over the tax bombshell have been ignored by a Finance Secretary who once described higher rate taxpayers as ‘rich’. Only a few days ago, Scottish Retail Consortium director David Lonsdale warned it was vital that consumers ‘don’t face a further hit to their wallet or purse through more hikes in income tax rates’.
He said: ‘Given anaemic official predictions for Scottish economic growth, we hope to see parliamentarians work collegiately to pass a Budget that prioritises measures which bolster private sector investment and consumer spending.’
In fact, MSPs missed a crucial opportunity to relieve financial pressure on families and businesses – and instead worked ‘collegiately’ to produce a tax grab that will fuel Scotland’s economic decline.