Now give middle class families a tax cut, SNP told

Tories call for Budget boost to mirror England

MIDDLE-CLASS workers ought to be handed a major tax cut in this week’s Scottish Budget, the Tories will argue.

The party will lodge a motion insisting it is unfair if Scots families do not receive the same boost as those in England.

The SNP has refused to pass on the UK Government’s income tax cut to higher earners as it does not want to make cuts to services elsewhere.

But after Finance Secretary Derek Mackay received an £800 million boost from the UK Government’s Autumn Statement, Scottish Tories insist he has no excuse.

In delivering his first Budget on Thursday, Mr Mackay will face calls from Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens to raise taxes. But on Wednesday the Tories will urge him to raise the higher tax rate threshold in line with the UK Government.

If Mr Mackay fails to do so, it could mean a working couple in Scotland paying as much as £650 more tax in a year than their counterparts south of the Border. Scottish Tory finance spokesman Murdo Fraser said: ‘There is a basic principle at stake this week. It is over whether people living here should have to pay more in tax for doing the same job as someone from elsewhere in the UK. We don’t believe they should, and we don’t believe it’s fair.

‘With an increase in funding from the UK Government announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, the Scottish Government’s argument that it can’t afford to pass on a tax cut to workers doesn’t hold water.’

As leader of a minority SNP Government, Nicola Sturgeon will need Labour, the Tories, Greens or Lib Dems to support her Budget, or at least abstain, to get it passed.

Representatives of all four parties have held meetings with Mr Mackay in recent weeks, with Labour, the Lib Dems and Greens all calling for a tax hike, while the Tories want bills cut.

But Government sources say the SNP will not budge from the tax policies set out in its manifesto, which mirror Westminster’s plans – apart from not passing on the full increase in the earnings threshold at which workers start paying the 40p higher rate of income tax. South of the Border, the rate will kick in at £45,000 next year, rising to £50,000 by 2020. But in Scotland it will rise only at the rate of inflation.

Labour and the Tories are set to oppose the Budget, but the SNP could buy off the Greens with £5 a week more child benefit to families of 220,000 chil- dren living in poverty, or the Lib Dems by doing more to tackle mental health issues.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘The Finance Secretary will publish the Scottish draft Budget on Thursday that will support our economy, tackle inequality and provide high-quality public services for all.’