Higher tax regime a foretaste of what independence would bring

SEVERAL of your recent correspondents seem to me to have more than a little sympathy with the personal taxation policies of the SNP in government (Letters, December 14).

I feel that they perhaps miss the point of the reservations many others, including myself, have of the path which devolved taxation powers have taken. If this is the policy we witness in action while the SNP is consistently trying to seduce us into believing that independence would be better for us, then this is certainly a rough wooing. What the level of taxation in Scotland would be like if we were on our own makes my imagination restless.

Not only are we struggling with an ageing population but the selfinflicted wounds of obesity and so forth would compound the issue to force taxation in an independent Scotland well beyond anything we are experiencing at the moment to meet the demands of our health services.

Additionally, as an example, while an independent Scotland was taxing people for maintaining our stretched health which would be depleting the Scottish purse, an F-35 fighter jet costs £92m each. How many could Derek Mackay afford in order to see off the Russian Tu-160 Blackjack bombers next time they come too close to what would be Scottish rather than UK airspace?

I view higher taxation in Scotland as only the thin end of the wedge and is driving division. I believe the apparent sympathy for it must be nipped in the bud before we get too used to it.

Bill Brown,

46 Breadie Drive, Milngavie.

SCRUTINY of the Scottish Budget reveals a depressing cocktail of arrogance, complacency and maladministration. Media attention is rightly focused on the continued attack on middle earners in this Budget following the decision to once again freeze the higher rate tax threshold at £43,430. This is now embedding the unflattering epithet of Scots as the most highly taxed part of the Union, indeed the effective tax rate of 53 per cent (applicable between £43,430 and £50,000) is one of the highest in the OECD for this income level and furthermore is considerably higher than the top rate of 46 per cent (on income above £150,000). Yet the Finance Secretary still asserts that the tax regime is progressive, not where most scholars learn economics it isn’t. Scots are having to get familiar with the depressing refrain from the Finance Secretary ‘that this is not the right time to …..’ ; well will it ever be the right time? Fiscal drag is pulling more and more taxpayers into the 53 per cent tax bracket, a population that increasingly numbers, nurses, teachers, train drivers and most middle management. Many workers will ask themselves: is it really worth a long night shift or extra overtime to hand over 53 per cent of your endeavours, why bother?

As long ago as 2009 the higher rate tax threshold was £43,875 which in today’s money (allowing for inflation) would be in excess of £53,000. The London Chancellor is simply restoring the threshold back to long term norms with his decision to move this to £50,000 south of the Border. Of course Finance Secretary Derek Mackay will no doubt assert that his Budget has popular support, after all most people support higher taxes provided somebody else is paying them. But now the 53 per cent tax band is looming perilously close on the horizon for increasing numbers of the population, one can’t help concluding that Mr Mackay’s strategy is to freeze the higher rate threshold indefinitely despite previous statements that it would be uplifted with inflation. The majority of the population can look forward to fiscal drag subjecting an increasing proportion of their income to higher rate tax if this policy persists.

Mr Mackay’s egregious attack on the incomes of middle earners is unnecessary as scrutiny of the Scottish Budget testifies. It is littered with vanity projects masquerading as priorities. But of course the SNP believes it can spend your money more wisely than you can. In reality the Finance Secretary could have easily uprated the higher rate threshold and done more to manage the tax gap between Scotland and the rest of the UK; after all he had a generous settlement from the UK Treasury. The Finance Secretary is in denial of the risk to Scottish economy from his tax plans, complacency is a risk that he can ill afford with the projected Scottish growth rate at little more than one per cent for the foreseeable future. One of the lowest of any developed economy.

Almost comically the Scottish Budget contains a plan to launch a “Come to Scotland campaign to attract talent and investment to mitigate the impact of Brexit” (sic). Whatever the merits of such a plan it seems futile given that Mr Mackay’s income tax plans will inflict far more damage on the Scottish economy than Brexit is ever likely to.

Raymond Hall,

The Firs, Gartness Road, Killearn. ONLY a fool would turn down promotion due to marginally higher tax in Scotland (“Middle class could spurn promotions in face of tax double whammy”, The Herald, December 14). There are plenty of reasons not to seek or accept promotion, but for someone on the border of the 40 per cent tax threshold all this means is that for every £1,000 a year your salary goes up, instead of receiving £800 post tax you receive £600 (leaving aside national insurance). Are people really going to turn down a wanted promotion because instead of receiving £15.50 a week post tax they will “only” get £11.50? If someone on a salary of around £900 a week refuses promotion on the basis of a prospective gain of “only” £11.50 rather than £15.50 that suggests they are not promotion material in the first place.

Brian Dempsey,

Lecturer in Law, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee.

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The Editor, The Herald, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB; e-mail: letters@theherald.co.uk

WHILE financial remuneration is undoubtedly a consideration, I believe that the main reason why people seek promotion is to put themselves in a position of power whereby they can influence others.

I suspect that there’ll be no shortage of candidates willing to climb the greasy pole of promotion. Roy Gardiner,

3 Riverbank Place, Kilmarnock.

IT’S strange to read such old-fashioned musings on the so-called middle class moaning about tax. In our modern greedy world over £40,000 isn’t good enough: they want the same selfobsessed benefits that the Tories give their mates. Of course if they are really rich then they work all sorts of dodges to avoid paying tax at all. Sadly our modern version of unbridled vicious capitalism has lost sight of the ideals of fairness and equality.

B Mckenna,

Overton Avenue, Dumbarton.