Scotland's new income tax!

[mummyhaschangedhername]

Was this expected? What the general feeling about this?

FairfaxAikman

I picked up on the use of many as it is actually very hard to get a funded place at a private school in Scotland.

I think that most people who can afford school fees after they have already paid tax on that money can probaby also afford a small rise in taxes.

Parents of private school kids are paying twice - once through taxes for the state system that they are not using, and once for their fees (and uniforms etc all of which have VAT)

No one holds a gun to their heads to pay for private school.

Primal I was referring to many as in "many within the private school system" - as many as 20% of pupils get financial help.**

And again you miss the point - I wasn't talking about income tax, I was on about business rates and the effect a poorly thought out policy could have on the education system as a whole.**

Of course I've missed the point rather you haven't made yourself clear.

£21k when you’ve a mortgage, bills and a family isn’t much, especially when you’re the only earner. It doesn’t go very far at all.

NRA . You're right, it's not a lot, but you can live on it. And it's just the starting salary with plenty potential to improve if you work hard.

Notreally I agree, it doesn't go far. That's why you have to make hard and sensible decisions about where you live and what you do with your money. We switched to an interest only mortgage to save on outgoings when times were tough; it was way cheaper than renting and we could add payments back when we could. Hardly ever had holidays let alone abroad, never had big TVs or Sky, never bought the latest tech, bough second hand clothes and budget food. Many people now (NOT everyone, and not pointing at anyone at all) expect to have holidays, new cars, the latest smartphone etc and some can manage to do that on benefits. I've volunteered at a foodbank and people come in after smoking outside and whilst playing on their iPhones, whilst not being able to feed themselves. It should be a bout personal responsibility, but we can't not feed children so we just carry on supporting parents to make poor choices 😢

If you work hard. Really.

Let's hope westminster would take note.

Yes, if you work hard - in any job, not just healthcare. If you want to get ahead in any profession, work hard - are you really advocating NOT working hard? Sorry if that sounds rude, but I'm incredulous that you seem to think working hard is a derogatory term!

Ahh so the growing poverty problem in the uk is due to people having iPhones and not working hard enough. Glad someone's solved it!

Username. My band three, four and five colleagues work harder than their higher paid colleagues (including me). They won't get a higher wage unless they leave and retrain, not an option for most.

Working hard doesn't get someone more money especially in the NHS.

They claim to be removing the cap on public sector pay rises, so I what I will get in a pay rise, I will lose by paying more tax. Despite having had 2 pay rises in recent years, I still earn less than I did 5 years ago - no wonder there's a shortage of teachers in Scotland

Little, is your extra tax the same size as your pay rise? I thought the tax raises were pretty small, on the whole?

Goingin yes, I'll probably get flamed for this but more children would potentially get fed if fewer cigarettes and iPhones were sold.

User, I wish it was that simple. Perhaps in a very few cases it could solve the issue but I would think tackling the bigger stuff like high inflation, housing costs, childcare costs etc would help many more families.

Scotland can't afford to be known for being a high tax region.

It would be different if we had a good quality political class at Holyrood, but we don't. Bluntly, MSPs have not handled their devolved powers well: over focus on constitutional issues, lack of interest and cut through on eg Education, too many silly pet projects, weaker quality of politician.

The impression given is not that more money will make much of a difference. It will just slightly slow inward investment and have a mild drift effect on higher earners.

I agree with the ‘poorer quality of politician’ comment.
This tax chAnge will make little difference, it is probably aimed at covering the huge tax income loss from redundancies due to the drop in oil price. Many highly paid workers have lost their jobs there.

Lol @ 'good quality political class at Holyrood'. I suppose you'd prefer Theresa May and Boris & co.

True - no baby boxes or Saxon signs in England, very remiss.

Nyx - By 'political class' I mean all politicians regardless of party.

Yes, Westminster attracts a much higher caliber of politician. It offers a different kind of career path and many more areas of government in which to pursue special interests e.g. Defence, which are reserved.

Well, Buttered, if you think Westminster currently houses a'higher calibre of politician' we're going to have to agree to disagree, but thanks for giving me a good laugh on the way to work - unless of course by 'politician' you mean 'self-serving, lying asshole'

"Yes, Westminster attracts a much higher caliber of politician. It offers a different kind of career path and many more areas of government in which to pursue special interests e.g. Defence, which are reserved"

What you're saying is that you think Holyrood is a wee pretend parliament. Well, I think Holyrood is doing a far better job of looking out for the Scots than Westminster is for Britain, or indeed any part of it.

I second that, Nyx. (Also laughing at Westminster politicians being of a higher calibre )

Can you list the improvements they’ve made to Scots’ lives cos I can’t think of any.

They're trying to protect the most vulnerable in our society and deliver the best public services anywhere in the UK.

Record health funding – over £13 billion in 2017, £3.6 billion more than when they took office
Over 60,000 affordable homes completed, with a further 22,000 households supported into homeownership
Free tuition protected, saving students in Scotland up to £27,000 compared to the cost of studying in England
Recorded crime in Scotland has reached its lowest level in 42 years
Prescription charges abolished, keeping the NHS true to its founding values. In England, patients are forced to pay £8.60 per item
16 and 17 year olds now have the right to vote in Scottish Parliament and local government elections
World-leading climate change targets met – six years early
Free, high quality childcare has been increased to 16 hours a week for all 3 and 4 year olds – up from 12.5 hours in 2007 – and extended to 2 year olds from low income households, saving families up to £2,500 per child per year in total
More people in employment in Scotland than the pre-recession high point, outperforming the UK on female employment and inactivity rates
Cut or abolished business rates for 100,000 premises – saving small businesses £1.2 billion to date

As well as spending over £100 million a year to protect people from the worst aspects of Tory welfare cuts - for example they are fully mitigating the Bedroom Tax in Scotland.