To think that the Scottish government have made the right decision to increase tax for higher earners

[ChristmasCaroline]

Ok, no one wants to pay extra tax. But it’s needed to fund the NHS.

at least it’s higher earners being hit.

Fine, but don't be surprised if the tax collected goes DOWN in a year or so.

It's happened here. Taxes put up, wealthy leave, tax take drops.

There is the law of unintended consequences. It is already extremely difficult to recruit hospital consultants for Scottish posts, because of the higher tax they have to pay compared to colleagues in England. Now the tax is being hiked higher still, it will be even less attractive to consider a career in Scotland.
A married couple of GPs or consultants would face paying an extra £200,000 between them over a working lifetime.
If you add in the higher cost of a mortgage in Edinburgh compared to Newcastle, and the future risk of Scotland breaking away from the UK, paying salaries in a worthless new currency, while the mortgage still has to be paid in pounds sterling, it would take a very brave (or stupid) doctor to risk it.
Moreover, highly skilled Scots graduates are likely to move to England, for tax reasons, causing a drain of brains and capital.
My own DD and her partner - a senior risk analyst and an experienced graduate engineer - are already applying for jobs in SE England, planning to leave their Edinburgh home of ten years.

I'm a single parent( don't get any maintenance), have a mortgage, need a car for my nhs job and pay for childcare, not a huge earner - a bit below £50 000 but now will be paying 54% in tax and NI on part of my earnings, not impressed

Laffer curve? Brain Drain?

it'll be interesting to watch
people often say the higher the rate the lower the tax take - as people leave or pay good accountants etc
so we'll be able to find out in quite a good comparsion experiment with the roUK if that is actually true or not!

I think this is kicking in at too low a level. Better 1.5p or 2p in the pound from a higher point than this, but presumably it would be too costly to start adding new tax levels.

I'm not sure on this. I don't really consider £43,662 to be a "higher earner". DH earns slightly more than this. But I'm employed by NHS so I'm happy it's supposedly earmarked for that.

You're not going to get a rational debate I suspect. The thread will be a honeypot for those who will take any opportunity to slag off either Scotland, the SNP or both.

FWIW though, I'm a higher-rate Scottish taxpayer and I don't have a problem with it. It's a penny on my marginal rate. It is not going to impact my standard of living in any noticeable sense and I am more concerned about properly funding our public services than whether I might need to put a few quid less into my savings. I also struggle to see that many, if any, high earners will leave Scotland over an extra penny in the pound. If they choose to though, good riddance.

It may start off reasonably, but eventually you are taking well over half of every pound that people work hard to make - and this won’t just be affecting the hyper-rich, it will affect hardworking normal people on £45k or more.

When people are being hammered like this, the incentive to work harder dries up and everybody loses.

There will be differences of opinion on what constitutes a reasonable level. But the answer simply isn’t to keep raising taxes as in the end you will choke off productivity.

In principle I don't disagree.

Are you aware however that the high rate threshold for tax in Scotland kicks in at 43662? What should be a decent wage on paper is not because all earnings above this and below the uk higher rate are subject to a marginal tax rate of 54%! On top of this say you are NHS and have another 10% pension deduction and a 9% student loan you are left with a tiny fraction of the wage you earned. I'm worse off than I was as a band 5 nurse who was entitled to tax credits and would have qualified for scottish child payment and energy bill help. There is no incentive to work hard and progress as far as I can see, only being taxed at levels someone on 5 times my salary would pay.

What I meant to say was you continue to pay 12% national insurance from the scottish high rate until you reach the uk high rate, this is what results in the 54% marginal tax rate. Unfair.

In theory, a higher rate for higher earners is fine.

However, the level at which this kicks in is not high earning. It's Just About Managing if that person is the sole or majority earner for a family (granted if both earn that rate they'll be very comfortable).

Except that Brexit has meant it's much more difficult to leave. Anyway it depends on your definition of wealthy. The level at which the higher rate kicks in isn't wealthy, it's comfortable (ish).

say you are NHS and have another 10% pension deduction and a 9% student loan

At least you don't have the tuition fee loan.

The income threshold for those affected by this change is not actually that high. A lot of people who are struggling with increased cost of living are now seeing their take home pay decrease. It’s not affordable for many people. I don’t know why the government seem to think that a family with a single wage at this level have spare money lying around that they can happily part with

I'd rather have a bit more tax from our income than people starving or choosing between paying for a prescription (say antibiotics or inhaler) for themselves and food for their kids... If nothing else it's cheaper than emergency admissions. Also means less faffing with having to haul ass to a pharmacy after being let out of hospital because you just get given all the stuff you need as it's free to you whatever the source.

Would also prefer nurses to be able to afford to live!

Universal 30 hours free also helps women into work sooner - as on the "need to be working" system it only kicks in the half term after you get the job which is not exactly easy to fun if you time it wrong. You also have time to attend interviews with a lot more flexibility than the classic 3 hour sessions you get with 15 hours.

I'd rather pay more tax and get better public services than "keep" more money to spend it on more expensive and worse private services.

DH is a few k lower than that (I'm a sahm at the moment) and we'd be happy to pay more tax if he gets a payrise or two. Even as a single income household we are so comfortable compared to many of the poorest. We can afford to save a bit each month. I would rather we had a decent, free at point of use, healthcare system in this country, than a foreign holiday every other year or lots of takeaway coffees or whatever luxury the extra money would have bought us.

We were higher earners in Scotland. Key word were. Higher earners are highly mobile and are able to leave meaning that Scotland could end up with a brain drain. Our household is thousands a year better off in England than in Scotland for a similar wage incoming. Add that to a continuous uncertainty about the economy due to oil prices and independence it was a no brainer despite the upheaval. A significant number of our colleagues felt the same and, unless they've got significant family ties, they've all moved too.

I'd prefer a larger tax on companies, especially large ones, but better than nothing.

This is the issue with the rises

People can move

We're better off in Scotland because house prices are more accessible in nice areas within commutable distances of major cities so we have a house in an area with good schools that we know we'll get into.

Yes we pay more tax but it feels like it pays for itself!

I was looking to head back to Scotland, thinking i might supplement my income with a bit of part time work, but even more taxes into the Nhs/Snp money pit, which won’t make a single iota of a difference…. Nah. I will take my knowledge and work where my skills are appreciated, not how much can be extracted from me.

I already pay stupid amounts of tax into a broken system - why throw more good money after bad.

I work from home (go into the office once a month) and have just had it approved by my boss that I can move back home to Scotland in the new year. My plan is now to stay just south of the border so I’ll move my property search slightly. It’ll be better than living in Surrey at any rate for seeing family, but not quite as close as I’d like

I don't call £45K particularly higher, that's pretty much average for many skilled jobs. I call £65k and above high.
In the early 2000s the gov increased corporate tax (in England). The firm that Dh worked for simply moved to Eastern Europe. The result was of course unemployment for all but the most highly skilled (or those who could move with the company).
Everything is about balance and many policy makes don't seem to get the subtleties needed.
A tax increase is needed, but 1) the money has to go to where it is promised not frittered away into more bureaucratic layers. 2)tax on higher earners not middle or lower.

Please, please, no more money for the NHS! It needs to go to local councils for social care. Solve social care, solve the issues in the NHS.