At Holyrood yesterday Graham Simpson MSP (SCAUP) asked for an update on the performance of local authority building verfication services.
The response showed and improvement in the percentage of projects approved within 10 days of compliant details from 72.73% in Q3 2017/18 to 84.78% in Q2 of 2019/20.
This dramatic improvement must have been particularly welcome to builders and to their clients.
Click to access WA20200122.pdf
I suspect the process will be even faster in England given their less rigorous demands and consequent flooded or burning housing.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Hi John – hope it’s OK to go slightly off-topic?
Couldn’t help but be mightily amused by Fraser of Allander’s beautifully dry demolition job on Jackson Carlaw’s Scottish sub-branch manager campaign around ‘taxation’.
‘Union’ Jacko has come up with a taxation policy to close the income tax ‘gap’ between Scotland and Ukania for those earning between £27,000 and £45,000. Only thing is – it ain’t possible to do this without reducing Scottish revenue receipts by a whopping £270M. FoA trace through Carlaw’s pathetic gibberings and conclude that he must be planning to raise the income tax rate for earners in the Higher Rate band to 42p in the pound – Presumably not quite what Union Jacko had in mind! – Link and snippets below (The FM wasn’t wrong when she dubbed Carlaw’s campaign as “Comedy Gold”) :
https://fraserofallander.org/scottish-economy/fiscal-policy/analysis-of-jackson-carlaws-income-tax-proposals/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
Earlier this week, Scottish Conservatives leadership candidate Jackson Carlaw committed to close the income tax gap between Scotland and rUK for those earning between £27,000 and £45,000.
The majority of individuals with income in this range (those with incomes less than £43,430) currently face annual income tax liabilities of up to £150 higher than equivalent counterparts in rUK. But this difference increases rapidly beyond £43,430, reaching £500 at incomes of £45,000
How might Jackson Carlaw’s commitment be implemented in practice?
The obvious way would be to cancel the Intermediate Rate of tax in Scotland (which levies a 21% marginal rate of tax on Scottish taxpayers with income between £25,000 and £43,430 as opposed to the 20% rate prevailing in rUK) and to increase the Higher Rate threshold from £43,430 to £45,000.
If this policy was implemented in 2020/21 it would reduce the government’s income tax revenues by around £270 million (Mr. Carlaw will not be in a position to implement the policy until 2022/23 at the earliest, but we examine the implications in 2020/21 for illustration).
One of the reasons why the policy appears perhaps surprisingly expensive is that the elimination of the intermediate rate and increase in higher rate threshold would also apply to taxpayers with incomes above £45,000….the policy would affect average household incomes at each decile of the distribution. The policy predominantly benefits households in the upper two deciles (i.e. upper fifth) of the distribution.
This result might be seen as puzzling, given the stated aim of the policy to help ‘middle earners’.
• Households in the bottom third of the income distribution contain very few individuals who have taxable incomes above £25,000.
• Those earning below £30,000 gain very little from the policy, as the difference in liability that they face relative to rUK is small.
• The percentage income gains are highest for those with taxable incomes between £43,430 and £45,000 (these individuals are at around the 85th percentile of taxpayers, i.e. they are in the top 15% of taxpayers ranked by income), and these individuals tend to live in households in the top fifth of the income distribution.
• Meanwhile the cash gain for someone with income of £100,000 is the same as someone with income of £45,000.
Hence a policy framed as supporting ‘middle earners’ predominantly benefits households at the top of the distribution of household income.
Of course if the objective is to help ‘middle earners’ but not necessarily those earning above £45,000, then the cut to the intermediate rate could be offset by a further increase in the higher rate, to say 42p. At the moment, it is not clear whether this is what Jackson Carlaw intends.
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Heh, good find Ludo! They really don’t have a clue on how to deal with the taxation thing do they? Changing the taxation bands was actually a work of (almost) genius by Derek Mackay I think – there is so little the Scottish government can do with the bestowed powers of very little variation in tax (it’s a trap said Richard Murphy at the time of them getting these ‘extra powers’) – can’t lower it or you get less money, can’t raise it wholesale or people are annoyed and it’s ammunition for opposition parties. Well, it’s still ammunition, but the gains have been noticeable with the least amount of increase, and much of the moaning has been fairly muted from real people that actually pay their taxes.
Richard Murphy claims that people want to pay tax – if it’s fair – but I personally don’t like paying my tax into the Westminster treasury coffers, I want it all to go to the Scottish government.
….hmm,,, and I want a Scottish government of an independent Scottish nation, one where a foreign country has no control over spending or money allocation or any fiscal or monetary thing.
Now,,, how do I go about getting what I want? Any suggestions welcome.
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Another off-topic I’m afraid.
On the 31st Jan Scotland loses the services of 3 excellent YES/REMAIN supporting MEPs (there are also 3 ukanian types who shuffle off) due to Brexit. Interestingly, Scotland may yet acquire a NEW MEP based here. I discovered today that the wonderful Prof. Clara Ponsati (St. Andrews Uni) is due to be appointed as an ‘extra’ MEP for Catalonia due to the redistribution of MEP numbers to the remaining EU states following the exit of ukanian MEPs. (Spain is due a further 5 MEPs – one of whom should be going to the Catalonia list (where Prof. Ponsati is next in line) – but we all know what tricks might be applied to stop this).
The assumption of a seat in the European Parliament could be highly relevant given Prof. Ponsati’s current legal process against ‘Treason’ charges (ain’t the world wacky?!) for her role in organising the democratic Catalonian Referendum. It might also be hugely useful to have a Scotland based MEP who can help keep Scotland’s hope and intention to remain attached to our common European home at the forefront of Europe’s thinking. Link and snippet below:
https://www.expatica.com/uk/catalan-separatist-ponsati-seeking-immunity-as-mep/
When Britain leaves the European Union on January 31, new members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be installed on February 1 from the remaining member states to fill empty seats.
Following the May 2019 European Parliament elections, Ponsati is due to take one of the five seats redistributed to Spain, as an incoming MEP for the Together for Catalonia party.
“If Clara becomes a member of the European Parliament, then she is entitled to the immunity that is attached, the legal immunity which means that she has a right to take the seat,” said Anwar (her solicitor).
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