Scottish Budget Day

[carpetmonster]

22 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

I think they give advance copies to the leaders of other parties, my finger's pointing at Alex Cole-Hamilton.

It was either him or Jacqui Baillie leaked the findings of the Salmond enquiry IIRC. 

[Billy Jean King]

That whole "stunt" looked totally orchestrated to me. I wasn't convinced until the grandstanding by Murder Fraser which seemed totally pre prepared. Of course no source of any "leak" will be found even if that's how it happened but it looks like a plan to de-rail the  budget that has thankfully  backfired on them.

 

All the more pathetic given this is the MO of the Tories at Westminster (basically how Johnson ran his government)

[Joey Jo Jo Junior Shabadoo]

[scottsdad]

Another 1% increase. hey ho.

But they should move the thresholds to nice, round numbers. I mean: Intermediate rate £25,689 to £43,622. Why not £26,000 to £43500, say. Make life easier for the accountants.

[FFCinthearea]

6 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

Another 1% increase. hey ho.

But they should move the thresholds to nice, round numbers. I mean: Intermediate rate £25,689 to £43,622. Why not £26,000 to £43500, say. Make life easier for the accountants.

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.

[Theatom]

9 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

Another 1% increase. hey ho.

But they should move the thresholds to nice, round numbers. I mean: Intermediate rate £25,689 to £43,622. Why not £26,000 to £43500, say. Make life easier for the accountants.

I think only the top threshold has changed - the £43,622 figure being quoted is the break even point - below this your tax bill stays the same above this the new 42% and 47% rares will make your bill higher than previous.

[alta-pete]

9 minutes 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.

I get the sentiment but having been to London Manchester and Liverpool in fairly short order over recent weeks, given the choice, I'd willingly hand over the extra £250pa just to ensure I get to live in my wee ivory tower this side of the border. 

[parsforlife]

Is it within the scot gov's ability to sort out the sham that is NI,  given its a very similar tax in style to income tax?

[renton]

1 minute ago, parsforlife said:

Is it within the scot gov's ability to sort out the sham that is NI,  given its a very similar tax in style to income tax?

Nope. Reserved.

[Salt n Vinegar]

31 minutes 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.

I think you'll find that it WILL find its way into "an already shattered economy" , just by a different route. 

The Scottish Government won't be cashing it all into £10 notes and chucking it into an incinerator. 

[Dawson Park Boy]

24 minutes ago, alta-pete said:

I get the sentiment but having been to London Manchester and Liverpool in fairly short order over recent weeks, given the choice, I'd willingly hand over the extra £250pa just to ensure I get to live in my wee ivory tower this side of the border. 

I think that’s what they’re banking on.

However, over an extended period this can only be a detrimental move.

Okay, you're not going to get many settled Scots with families moving South but it makes it harder to attract highly paid professionals from abroad and also it will put off companies setting up here rather than in parts of England.

Will take time but I think it’s a bad move and will harm our economy.

[sparky88]

3 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

If they are going to have the higher rate tax band up here 2% more than the rest of the UK, it would be reasonable if they at least raised the threshold somewhere closer to the £50k mark

Won't happen though.

Average pay in Scotland, thanks to the fact that London is in England, is lower than rUK so I'd say it makes sense that the threshold is considerably lower that in England.

[Granny Danger]

53 minutes 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.

People can vote them out at the next election.

[ICTChris]

My department at work is split between Scotland and England so half the people who have higher incomes will pay a lot more tax than others doing exactly the same job.

in our case this is offset by the higher costs of travel, housing and everything else in the area of England our office is based in. The sweet spot is  to buy a property in a complete bin area of England - the Red Wall or somewhere like that and reap the benefits.

[doulikefish]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

My department at work is split between Scotland and England so half the people who have higher incomes will pay a lot more tax than others doing exactly the same job.

in our case this is offset by the higher costs of travel, housing and everything else in the area of England our office is based in. The sweet spot is  to buy a property in a complete bin area of England - the Red Wall or somewhere like that and reap the benefits.

Oldham here we come 

[carpetmonster]

1 hour ago, Dawson Park Boy said:

I think that’s what they’re banking on.

However, over an extended period this can only be a detrimental move.

Okay, you're not going to get many settled Scots with families moving South but it makes it harder to attract highly paid professionals from abroad and also it will put off companies setting up here rather than in parts of England.

Will take time but I think it’s a bad move and will harm our economy.

This is the same logic as 'you can't put industry in the higher taxed/higher CoL states/cities' in the US. Meanwhile in Chicagoland, companies like Motorola, ConAgra and McDonalds moved back from the burbs to the city itself because they couldn't attract talent to move to the burbs. 

[Frankie S]

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. 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Frankie S

[vikingTON]

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. 

Edited December 16, 2022 by vikingTON

[HeartsOfficialMoaner]

5 hours ago, FFCinthearea said:

The squeezed middle will bear the brunt of this to give more to the layabouts and benefits scroungers.

It's not a punishment. Be happy to help the weak if you are strong.  

[strichener]

Another day, another broken SNP manifesto commitment.