ACCORDING to the respected Fraser of Allander Institute, there’s one thing wrong with the Scottish Government’s Medium Term Financial Strategy — there’s no strategy.
Instead of looking ahead and planning for Scotland’s economic future over the next five years, Finance Secretary Derek Mackay is blasted for looking back over the last decade.
He’s absolutely clear who created the mess we’re in. That was all Westminster’s fault. But he isn’t offering any solutions and there’s not a shred of a plan for how we might get out of it.
The Scottish economy has struggled to shake off the effects of the banking collapse and the oil shock. We remain saddled with pitifully slow economic growth, earnings lower than a decade ago in real terms, poor productivity and increasing poverty among working people.
The FoA report highlights glaring gaps in the Government’s financial strategy. Why no mention of the gap in tax take between Scotland and the UK?
Nats slammed over sentencing reform ‘loophole’ which could see paedos walk free
The SNP demanded responsibility for income tax and they got it. Now, if Scotland fails to bring in money from taxes, the Scottish budget will be hit. This is not a marginal, academic issue.
We are already facing a tax shortfall of £1billion over the next three years and it’s not unreasonable to think the Government might have seen that coming and put it in the plan.
MOST READ IN NEWS
This stuff is vital. Only yesterday experts from the Scottish Fiscal Commission were in committee, warning MSPs of the troubles ahead. They understand the tax shortfall. They understand that we have 5,000 fewer top rate taxpayers than expected.
These issues cannot be ignored.
The SNP demanded the grown-up powers of a grown-up parliament so it’s time to start acting like grown ups and acknowledge some harsh realities.
What a waste
IMAGINE the scenes as householders arrive at the municipal dump only to face a demand for ID.
That’s what’s happening in Dundee. These are respectable citizens, trying to do their bit for the environment by recycling rubbish.
Instead they are turned away and told to make a 40-mile round trip to a dump in the next door local authority.
It’s like a sketch from the League of Gentlemen: “This is a local dump for local people.” Dundee City Council says their council tax payers fund the recycling centre, so people from over the council border have to make a 20-mile trip to dump their rubbish in Perth.
We are supposed to be in the middle of a climate emergency. A long drive to recycle a plastic bottle won’t help the environment. And, if the climate collapses into chaos, that will hurt the taxpayers of Dundee just as much as those in Perth and Kinross.
Can’t we be a tiny bit more mature about this?
We pay for your stories and videos! Do you have a story or video for The Scottish Sun? Email us at scoop@thesun.co.uk or call 0141 420 5200