Workers and businesses across Scotland are in desperate need of relief from the ‘crippling’ tax policies imposed by the SNP, according to Scottish Conservatives leader Russell Findlay. Speaking on Wednesday, Findlay underscored the growing tax disparity between Scotland and England as he embarked on a tour of ‘Blue Wall’ constituencies near the Border.
Tax Divide Deepens
Findlay’s comments come as First Minister John Swinney insisted he does not believe high net worth individuals are being discouraged from living in Scotland due to his tax policies. Currently, anyone earning more than £33,493 annually pays higher income tax in Scotland than they would elsewhere in the UK. For example, a salary of £45,000 results in an extra £396, rising to £1,496 at £50,000 and £2,050 at £75,000. Those earning £100,000 pay £3,300 more, while individuals on £300,000 face an additional £10,431, and millionaires are hit with an extra £31,431.
Concerns have also been raised about higher poundage rates for non-domestic rates in Scotland, burdening businesses with larger bills. Findlay argued that this tax divergence is suffocating economic growth and worsening the cost-of-living crisis.
Findlay’s Message
During a visit to Gretna Green, Findlay stated: ‘Scottish workers and businesses are desperate for a break from the SNP’s crippling high-tax regime. It’s unfair and wrong that individuals on relatively modest incomes are paying thousands of pounds a year more than they would elsewhere in the UK, particularly during a cost-of-living crisis. The Nationalists have stifled growth by imposing higher bills on Scottish firms – and they arrogantly ignored warnings that their brutal rates revaluation would force many businesses to close. Nowhere is the damage of the SNP’s punitive tax policy felt more acutely than in this area, where hospitality businesses are at a competitive disadvantage with rivals south of the Border. The Scottish Conservatives are committed to cutting bills for households and businesses by reining in John Swinney’s ballooning benefits spending – and if voters back us on May 7, we can stop an SNP majority.’
The Tories argue the tax divide is even more stark in Border areas. Craig Hoy, the Scottish Conservative candidate for Dumfriesshire, added: ‘Individuals and businesses in Dumfriesshire are sick of being clobbered by an SNP government that treats them like a cash cow. People living in this area, a number of whom work just south of the border in areas such as Carlisle, are paying far more in income tax than their colleagues, but are getting less in return from public services that are in meltdown. If John Swinney really cared about the cost-of-living crisis, he’d cut income tax to give hard-pressed households some respite. Instead, he keeps dragging more and more middle earners into higher tax brackets.’
Reform UK’s Wealth Debate
During Tuesday’s STV debate, Reform UK’s Scottish leader Lord Malcolm Offord highlighted his own wealth to emphasise the importance of high earners to the economy. He recounted arriving in London with £2,000 debt 40 years ago, working hard, and now owning ‘six houses, five cars and six boats’, while having ‘employed hundreds of thousands of people and paid £45million in tax’. When Lord Offord asked Scottish Greens co-leader Ross Greer ‘do you want more people like me, or fewer people like me’, Greer replied: ‘Fewer people like you.’
Asked if he agreed, SNP leader John Swinney said: ‘Obviously I want to make sure that we generate wealth and growth in the Scottish economy, that’s what my manifesto is about, it’s what my track record as a minister in the Scottish Government has all been about, and I am very pleased Scotland’s economic growth outstripped that of the United Kingdom in last year.’
Swinney’s Defence
Swinney insisted he wants people to be ‘successful’ in Scotland and argued for ‘a fair tax system that recognises that people on higher incomes should pay their fair share in taxation’. He added: ‘I want there to be successful people in Scotland, of course I do.’ Pressed on whether the current approach to income tax and land and buildings transaction tax deters high net worth individuals, Swinney responded: ‘I don’t, because we see growth in the number of people coming into Scotland to be taxpayers, so there is a growth in the tax base. I made it very clear that I want to lead a successful and dynamic Scottish economy, and that includes the generation of wealth and growth in our economy.’
North East Scandals
Meanwhile, in the north east, Tory candidates Douglas Lumsden and Alexander Burnett produced a dossier of 26 local SNP ‘scandals’, including uncertainty on its North Sea drilling position, the closure of minor injury units leading to crisis at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, and delays to vital safety improvements on the A90 and A96 roads.
