We’ve recently had Tom Hunter, City of London representatives and the IFS calling for reduced income taxes in Scotland. These have been widely reported but Scottish Government responses have seen little light.
From Income tax and First Minister meeting with City of London Corporation correspondence: FOI release, published yesterday, selected responses from a very long set:
Our tax policies are grounded in evidence and carefully balance the need to raise revenue with the impacts on taxpayers and the economy. The evidence continues to suggest that our policy approach raises significant additional revenue for investment in vital public services.
Our tax base continues to grow strongly, with data from the RTI PAYE system showing Scotland experienced faster earnings and tax per head growth than the rest of the UK in both 2022-23 and 2023-24.
Tax policy choices since devolution, will raise an additional £1.5 billion in 2024-25, compared to if we had matched UK Government policy.
People from the rest of the UK are coming to Scotland, not leaving it. Over 45,000 people of working age came to Scotland in 2021, with net in-migration at just over 5,000. People base their decisions on where to live and work on a wide range of factors. Those who call Scotland home enjoy a range of support not available throughout the UK such as free university tuition and free prescriptions.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Oh , if only Sarwar was FM leading a Labour Government in Holyrood then the City of London crook….sorry , financiers , would heave a sigh of relief as those pesky SNP socialist policies would be binned .
No more free prescriptions , no more free Uni tuition , no more higher taxes for the hard working rich , no Scottish Child Payment …. instead , good old Labour policies to encourage growth – like lower Income tax levels for the rich , lower Non-Dom taxes for the rich , cutting Welfare for the idle poor , getting the sick back to work ….
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‘Labour policies to encourage growth’, obviously said in jest.
We all know that it’s the rich who are the real parasites and that has become clearer since the pandemic for those who were not aware before. Starmer’s Labour and his jobsworths in Scotland, (grifters at Holyrood) are not interested in helping the ‘idle’* poor, sick or disabled, and they’d really quite like the SNP in Scotland to stop helping the poor, sick and disabled and just stop trying to be ‘fairer’ across the spectrum of society, or else!
Day one of an English take over of the Scottish parliament, would see the Scottish Social Security system scrapped, shut down, how dare the SNP not put people through hell to get a few £’s to survive on when they can’t ‘work’, not good enough! Labour policies are designed to keep the sheeple where they belong, desperate, poor, chugging along if lucky, cannon fodder when the times comes, unable to climb any rung of the ladder, unable to start new small businesses and be self employed, god forbid. No, keep the people beholden, tax them to the hilt, including for their electricity (VAT).
The UKOK is a mess, due to England’s Brexit, and even more so with Starmer’s national insurance hike, becaiuse we are seeing shops and pubs close down, and no doubt many small business have gone kaput. Along with that, prices are shooting up, so the poorer folks who can’t afford to eat well, so lacking in adequate nutrition so needing more healthcare, welcome to not having that NHS luxury, it’s all for the chop!!
The thought of any grifter like Sarwar being installed as FM in Scotland’s parliament is enough to send shivers down the spine. He’d follow his London masters’ orders to take Scotland down and backwards, to the time of being named the ‘poor man of Europe’ and it damn well was that when under English rule!
NO THANKS!!
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given average house prices are £100k higher down south and council tax averages £1000 more per annum these additional costs significantly outstrip any tax burden for Scottish tax payers on equal salaries – we get so much more for our taxes compared to rUK we should be thankful we have a progressive government
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It is also being widely predicted that many areas in England and councils facing bankruptcy are going to see 25% hike in Council taxes. Gulp !! So much for Scotland being the highest tax region in the UK
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Its all fine having an influx of people coming from england to live in Scotland but will they vote for Scottish independence ? Unlikely , so bragging that people are coming to Scotland not leaving is one thing but to suggest they are coming here because tax is a bit less or they get higher social security benefits here or free prescriptions and free university fees is just silly , there are other reasons they come here reasons that will not change their pattern of voting against Scottish independence.London want Scotlands tax and benefits system to be the same as england because they are part of the privatisation plan they want to end government paid benefits they want everyone cloned to privatisation so that they are easy to control by private business .
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O/T
An interesting article from Daily Telegraph ranking hospitals in England. Here is the link to the article
https://archive.is/vYTaw
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Scotland paying for Westminster Gov policies. Losing £Billions because of Brexit. £Billions lost in tax evasion. £13Billion a year decommissioning nuclear, ever increasing. Trident dumped in Scotland, putting Scotland in danger. £Billions wasted on HS2 & Hinkley Point.£Billions spend on illegal war and redundant weaponry. Scotland in surplus in fuel and energy, and nearer the source, pays more.
Scotland supports students, nursery support, affordable housing built, prescriptions, kinship payments. Building Bridges, railways and AWPR. Investing in green energy. Mitigating cuts to NHS funding.
Scotland would be far better off Independent.
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It should be the other way around, English Chancellor should adopt Scotland’s more progressive tax regime. In fact we need to go further. In terms of overall tax rates, including VAT etc, the rich pay a lower proportion of their income in taxes than many of the poorest. They also get a whole bucket load of welfare for the wealthy through tax exemptions and other freebies available only to the rich. For example, tax relief at the higher rate on pension contributions, “unearned” income and capital gains taxed at a lower rate. And much more.
Instead of punishing the poor and disabled as she intends to do Reeves could end the obscene welfare benefits for the wealthy through tax reforms and reduce inequality and start tackling poverty.
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The City of London Corporation and Tom Hunter share the view that the already wealthy should be able to accumulate even more wealth, and this is marginally hindered by SG taxation policy.
Yet consider what is done with that vast wealth with rare exception – It is parked in an offshore account or invested in property which contributes zilch to the real economy of the UK, the only “growth” UK governments are famed for…
It is one of the principal reasons the UK’s public finances are in such a parlous state, and this they wish Scots to align with, to share the pain of England ? – Crumbling hospitals in London etc, the NHS struggling to survive, rivers heavily polluted, electricity and potable water in increasingly short supply and at high cost, etc., etc..
What the SNP have done to date is a good start, but there is very much more which can and should be done…
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