It is time to concentrate on beefing up the private sector
I HAVE noted with interest the observations on the Scottish economy made by Robin Heron (Letters, December 12), the comments of Michael Kelly (Letters, December 16) and the pithy reply of Ruth Marr (Letters, December 17).
Ms Marr’s opinion is infected by a virus more common than the cold: she seems to believe that the goods and services supplied by government are free. But they are not and the ultimate paymaster is the private sector through individual and company taxes.
The Scottish performance of the private sector remains stubbornly anaemic with persistent low growth, low productivity and low profits the main symptoms. Deep-seated problems of structural adjustment have meant that Scotland has struggled to produce strongly-rooted, world-class businesses in the numbers needed to support and sustain wellbalanced growth in the economy.
In short, Scotland needs a muscled-up private sector as a matter of priority. Without that there is simply no means of building a tax base capable of supporting any political desire for more progressive long-term policies which address a) the needs of the most disadvantaged in Scottish society and b) a growing level of inequality, unacceptable in this day and age.
While we still have the Barnett formula, Government policy efforts should, as a matter of priority, be directed at that ongoing challenge and not distracted by foisting a second independence vote on a referendumweary electorate. Ewen Peters, 6 Canberra Court, Giffnock. I READ the lamentation from Raymond Hall (Letters, December 17) anent the iniquitous treatment of the middle class by the SNP. As it happens I am middle class, though my income is somewhat less than the £50,000 suggested by Mr Hall; despite this and despite also having to pay more tax I have no intention of leaving Scotland.
Perhaps many with the mindset of Mr Hall will find my reluctance to do so incomprehensible; the answer is of course that I am a Scotsman and I do not only think in terms of my personal finances.
As I understand it the Scottish Government is not raising the tax on high earners; that remains the same and, to be frank, high earners can well afford it. Mr Hall cavils at the increase in council tax. Any reasonable person must know that the cap on council tax could not continue for ever. There is mention of a family income of £100,000 per annum having to pay £2,000 a year more; my heart bleeds for their awful predicament.
We get a constant stream of England does this and England does that. What the English do is a matter for the English, what we do is a matter for the Scots.
The Scottish Parliament is elected by a far more representative and democratic system than the Westminster Parliament. The state of the parties in our parliament reflects this. What the English do is by no means a benchmark. They voted us out of Europe did they not? R Mill Irving, Station House, Station Road, Gifford. IN response to the letter from Raymond Hall and others, could I point out that a restaurant near me is offering a Christmas dinner for £84 per head. For a family of four this works out at £336. Does he seriously expect an exodus of high earners from Scotland for tax-saving of the cost of a single family meal? D MacRae, 38 Marchfield Avenue, Paisley. PHIL Tate’s proposal (Letters, December 17) to increase the highest rate of income tax to 50p to finance local councils would result in a reduction of income for the Scottish Government as without the full range of tax powers Holyrood is unable to address any wide-scale tax avoidance or tax re-arrangements. The SNP has stuck to its election manifesto on tax, whereas last month Labour at Westminster backed the Tory tax cut for higher earners in the form of the rise in the 40p income tax threshold.
When the SNP tried to introduce a progressive local income tax, this was attacked by Labour at Holyrood as being unfair to middle-income earners and was eventually sabotaged by Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, who said that the UK Treasury would retain the £400 million a year allocated for council tax benefit if council tax was scrapped. During the 13 years Labour was in power at Westminster a 50p tax rate was only in place for 100 days, and who can forget that on January 13, 2015 Labour MPs voted for George Osborne’s fiscal charter that removed another £2,550 million from the Holyrood budget? Mary Thomas, Watson Crescent, Edinburgh.