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Scottish Budget Day


ICTChris

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I think quite a lot of people earning the salary range mentioned above will be the people who are moving to new build developments in Fife, West Lothian etc. 

Edited by ICTChris
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49 minutes ago, ford prefect said:

Maybe we should go in line with the rest of the UK. Bring back prescription charges, stop free bus passes for kids, free school meals and allow universities to charge up to 9000 per year? Surely stopping that waste of money would help us not to have to increase tax?

Yes, good idea.

Always better to pay for your own things than rely on the state.

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5 hours ago, FFCinthearea said:

I% is still 1% that won't make it's way into an already shattered economy.    Is it fair that someone in Scotland earning £25k is paying 2% more than the rest of the UK?  They're not exactly high earners FFS.

It doesn't seem fair at all. Although someone in Scotland earning £25k pays less income tax than someone in the rest of the UK so perhaps you should direct your scorn towards Westminster.

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3 minutes ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

No.

Paid for it may times over.

If that's true, you've also paid for your prescriptions, over 60's bus pass and any free school meals you ever had many times over?

Somehow, I'm not convinced that you attended University, but if you did, you've also paid for that many times over.

Why do you consider the "many times over" argument to only apply to one benefit, which coincidentally we all know you currently receive?

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12 hours ago, Frankie S said:

I said during Covid that I’d be broadly in favour of paying more income tax if it was ring-fenced for the NHS, which Swinney has assured us will be the case (let’s hope so). There’s no doubt though that middle earners are being squeezed hard up here compared to our English counterparts. The higher rate threshold has been frozen for years in Scotland, and it’s not just an additional 1%, taking us up to 42% v 40% in England: Scots taxpayers will pay an effective rate of 54% (42% income tax and 12% NIC) on earnings between £43,663 and £50,271 compared to an effective rate of 32% for our counterparts south of the border (20% income tax and 12% NIC), a 22% difference in that band, which is a huge disparity. 43k might represent a large salary in some areas, but in areas of the Central Belt such as Edinburgh, where property prices have always been sky high, and mortgages correspondingly more burdensome, 43k spreads rather thinner than elsewhere. It’s certainly a bold move, and Scotland’s increasingly ageing population and relatively high level of welfare dependancy clearly requires a higher tax burden, though it certainly won’t make us any more competitive in the jobs marketplace. 

I have said previously in this topic that i dont mind paying the extra tax. However, i wish the governments would actually address the larger issues such as obesity and corruption rather than just simply say "lets increase taxes". At some point, there is a limit as to what you can tax people. As you mention, we have an ageing population and a finite number of higher rate taxpayers and our productivity lags behind the rest of the Europe. So they either need to get us working harder (almost impossible to do) or encourage more higher rate taxpayers to come to work in Scotland (since we are currently part of the uk then ill add them into this as well, however, since the tories are becoming even more right wing then its hard to see the second part happening). Whilst we can offer people almost certainly a better quality of life, money talks for a lot of people and they tax disparity could see them decide to work elsewhere/in england

12 hours ago, virginton said:

Perhaps people on 150% of the average salary could choose *not* to live in Edinburgh then. And then its stupidly overheated property market will adjust downwards accordingly. 

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This argument frustrates me. Whilst someone on £45k a year earns a decent sum compared to a lot of people, they are hardly rich. Throw in the fact that their electric costs have almost certainly increased substantially, their mortgage rate possibly as well (if they can even afford a mortgage in edinburgh) alongside every other cost. There are also many reasons why someone may earn £50k and live in Edinburgh. If they move out of Edinburgh as you say then it might introduce extra costs such as having to run a car or additional travel costs, additional childcare costs etc. Its not really as black and white as you suggesting

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I would hipe an independent Scotland with full fiscal levers would still have a tax system that looks like this as a bare minimum.

To put this into real numbers someone on 50k a year will be about 6 quid a month worse off.

100k a year 47.50 a month worse off.

I'll get excited when then government implement a 90% inheritance tax and confiscate second properties 

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