While the Budget offered some crowd-pleasing measures, it failed to deliver meaningful change, writes CHRIS BARBER The Finance Secretary’s announcement to increase the amount at which the basic and intermediate income tax thresholds starts by 7.4%, to £16,538 and £29,527 respectively, appears welcome news for low low-income earners. However, at only £11 per year extra in their pockets, this hardly represents any difference to overall livelihoods. These threshold increases also won’t deliver a meaningful […]
Scottish budget
Time to simplify Scotland’s tax rules
A needlessly complex tax regime needs better alignment with England, argues DONALD PARBROOK While the fiscal position may leave Shona Robison, the outgoing SNP Finance Secretary, with relatively few options, taxpayers in Scotland surely find the Scottish income tax rates and bands system needlessly complicated. The rest of the UK has three income tax bands […]
Sarwar losing direction amid policy muddle
A floundering Labour leader is helping John Swinney paper over the cracks in government, says TERRY MURDEN Before an audience at the Playfair Library in Edinburgh on Monday First Minister John Swinney set out the damage and disarray that would follow if the budget bill failed to get through parliament. He reminded those gathered that […]
Labour feels Robison’s Budget boot
Businesses emerged largely unscathed from a statement designed with an election in mind, says TERRY MURDEN Let’s face it, any budget is a case of ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’. It’s the mother of all financial balancing acts and every minister who delivers one wants to announce the final flourish that will […]
Robison must drop the freebie fixation
The Finance Secretary has little wiggle room in this week’s budget, but she does have options, writes TERRY MURDEN With next year’s allocation of funds from the Chancellor to the Scottish government already all but spent, there is a risk for business that this week’s budget will be a bit of an anti-climax. Once pay […]