To want to move to England because of Scottish tax.

[Nogg]

Is anyone else thinking of moving to England because of tax. I’m a single parent and I am paying 7k extra tax a year. The place I live is run down. I really want to move but the only issue kids settled in ( failing) Scottish education system. I wonder if anything will change at next election? Hate SNP and what they have done to Scotland.

Don’t expect free university tuition fees to last. Universities are on the verge of bankruptcy because funding has been cut year-on-year. There’s no appetite for tax payers to give more to higher education. Therefore, one of two things will happen—fees are introduced to save universities from collapse, or they will be allowed to collapse to reduce the size of the sector. In which case, it will be much harder to get a university place. (Or both! )

The current situation will not stay for much longer.

Sorry, a PS. Yes, English universities are in s bad state, but some Scottish universities are worse off.

You have to be earning over £190k to paying £7k more in tax so excuse the tiny violin. You also get free prescriptions, and your kids will get free University tuition

Here are the comparisons. But also remember most English high earners below a certain age are likely to be paying student loan charges

Scottish unis are so much worse off as they have to take Scottish students and are paid a pittance for them. They compensate by recruiting more overseas students but the UK government is drastically reducing how many overseas visas they are handing out, to reduce immigration figures. I predict Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews and perhaps Strathclyde will survive, but I wouldn’t be starting a 4 year course at Aberdeen or Dundee.

‘Free’ uni = £900m a year. More than scrapping the 2 child cap. 6 x winter fuel allowance. Enough to properly sort out schools.

If you pay £7k extra that puts your income at £200k.

With my job I have lived up and down the UK, in the majority of the UK regions and none of them are ‘better’ than anywhere else really. People are the same all over. A man’s a man for all that.Scotland = better scenery, much worse government and public services. Pros and cons.

Yes I am
a high earner but I pay loads in tax
and single parent with no help. Also I haven’t always earned this much for most of life, it is the froth from years of low earnings study and sacrifice currently and it’s being creamed off by the SNP! Where I live is not generally considered a dump but to me I think it is a dump/run down.
I might wait to the general election the. Decide…. If the SNP are revoted in will give up hope. Can’t stand them.

I agree Central Scotland has NEVER looked so bad. Town centres are charity shops,pawn shops,nail bars,barbers + closing down sale stores. The rental fees of shops is ensuring they remain empty. Intent is probably key. Isnt rocket science who rates get paid too. the local authority is a scotgov underworld. (not for profit shady shite show)
Imagine how even more horrific things would be had we got independence! cardboard cut out cowboys n underhand motives at every stage of "peoples party" failed if even recall what was manifesto ever was,incompetent criminal representatives,broken promises,n no accountbility.
devolved government actually went out on an extreme limb, at their own discretion-sure as hell wasnt on behalf of the nation, at no point was said nation given option to choose the motion..thankfully uk retained final say power. SNP led their own downfall, are shameless.
I get you are penalised for earning- is england easier?-prob need fee pay education, still run by crooks n crimelords,cost of living higher, no guarantees moving will ensure a saving really.
Probably scotlnd introduce a ex-pats /cross border tax-do not pass go/collect £200 style.
There are no freebies. Not when liv in worst conditions,highest\lowest poverty conditions.homeless, hungry,neglected children,oaps,and rest isnt new.
"freebies" that=basic essentials are filtered through as bonus items -cos the benefit rtes do not provide requirements. it causes a divide. the poor dont choose to be, its not new-snp, tory lite(ie labour) etc all rehash same old shite, BUT now with open borders-six month sty n nationalism can be yours-jobs for everyone,but natives?
rant rnt think i went of on one..didni even realise i thot aw that til started. phew

Your post is disingenuous.

On £200k, the extra £7k isn’t going to make a dent.

Fair enough you have complaints about Holyrood (don’t we all) but to say you want to move because of tax is dishonest.

And with a salary of £200k, I wonder where you’d go instead. London is an absolute hellscape

Regardless of whether you think it makes a dent or not, assuming a 4% pension contribution under the Scottish system you just take home a little over half your gross salary.

Quite frankly I think the Scottish Government doesn’t spend any extra wisely and I resent every penny that I pay more than England. It’s a real problem, we can’t attract high earners to Scotland because of it.

7k does make a dent it’s 7k extra than would pay in England . It makes me consider moving over the border. Also because of the politics and run down nature of things

So you earn £180,000 per year?

If that's the case then I suspect you can probably afford the extra tax.

The OP claims to be earning over £180k but has no grasp of spelling or grammar.

I'm calling bullshit on this post.

Then go?

To make lifestyle decisions based on tax seems like utter madness, but you enjoy.

what are schools like there? Commuting time?

if tax means more to you than these things, then yeah. Go

Yeah.

Earning £200,000 a year , £50 k land tax . Was the house a million pounds? £7k is nothing. Like the average person complaining about a tenner.
Absolute bull.

7k on top of other taxes so over 83k tax a year. Plus pension deduction. In 10 years that is 70K Extra in tax. Which you could do a lot with its not equivalent to a tenner!

LBTT on a £1m house in Scotland is over £78k actually. £41k in England. And you wonder why higher rate tax payer are feeling taken for granted!

Or Abertay.

Moved to Scotland just before COVID, still got a lot of family in England. I wouldn't say that "England" is so much better than Scotland in the sense of public services or education (or the state of the roads). There are probably some pockets that are better but finding them and keeping them that way will be tough...

Where I used to live in England has the same complaints as where I currently live in Scotland and when I moved up I was struck by how much better all of the public services felt than where I came from.

In England there are probably fewer NHS dentists, GPs are busy and impossible to see, waiting times for A&E seem just as long and the education system is not really any better in most cases (unless you can get both kids into a super selective grammar school).

Tax is lower but general cost of living is higher and the feel is generally much more right wing and isolationist ... Especially in market town England.

A salary of around 200k in Scotland will be around 7.5k/month following tax, pension and student loan. Nursery costs and mortgage can easily be 5k. A single parent with 2.5k left for bills, food, travel, holidays and all other disposable income probably very much would notice the extra £500 or so per month south of the border!

I wonder what you are basing your opinion on which Universities will be closing @Easypeelersareterrible ?

I think Aberdeen and Dundee have far higher Scottish students numbers than Glasgow and Edinburgh; so if they go even less allocated places for Scottish students so harder to get a university place in Scotland. Has the student housing eased in the central belt?
(I’d challenge Edinburgh university stating that half of their students are Scottish as unlike in my day, they now encompass that art college and teacher training which have fewer international students: many countries and cultures in Asia favour science, finance and engineering over the arts and social sciences and you can see that from the names on the list of graduates published)

Scottish students and graduates can be a bit less likely to want to work outwith of Scotland. I think this is changing though as there are just not the university places, graduate jobs or opportunities in Scotland. In my experience free prescriptions and eye tests are not alluring enough for them to stay.
most of my dc university friends have found graduate employment in England and of the ones that have stayed they are working in North Face shop or cafè.

I read today in the herald that Glasgow university were in danger of losing their right to enroll international students; in the last few years their numbers at Glasgow have risen from 3000 to 13000, over 400%.

I'm not an SNP fan either, but I am a huge fan of higher tax in principle. I want a functional NHS and decent public services. Obviously you also need a competent government to administrate this, but governments change every five years...
My household income is under £40k (family of four). We are very comfortable. We don't pay higher tax rate obviously, but are likely to do so in the next few years and I will be very happy to. If I earn more, I want to subsidise people who don't. I've been one of those people. So have you, most likely (unless you earned £200k straight out of school).

I work with a lot of Scottish colleagues. GP access is a million times better in Scotland but education sounds appalling. I have a SEN child and a move to Scotland is completely off the cards for us.

Other than getting 'more for your money' in property, I can't see any major benefit for being in Scotland with the higher tax rates for high earners like me.