IT is puzzling that those who point - sometimes in faux horror - at the state of schools or hospitals in Scotland, are also often those who hyperventilate at the thought of tax rises for the well-off.
It would perhaps be a kindness to say that these people have trouble with basic maths, or the rudiments of economics. One would be hard pressed to find a five-year-old who didn't know that you need to spend money to have nice things.
As the Tories once taunted progressives: there is no magic money tree. And nor should there be. As the Sunday Herald has long argued, if we wish a decent society then we have to pay for it. And by a decent society we mean one in which the poor are given the chance to prosper, public services are invested in, and jobs and infrastructure are created.
The alternative is to keep your hand in your pocket, make taxes low and accept something lesser - a society that is unequal, unfair, more cruel.
With this in mind, the Sunday Herald supports the broad brush of the recent Scottish budget. It is a strong progressive step in the right direction and has much to commend it.
However, a government cannot increase taxes with progressive promises and then fail to deliver. The SNP must use increased tax revenues to improve the circumstances of ordinary people. Spend the money of citizens to better the lives of citizens and a government will be judged to have done well. Take our money and waste it, and the dustbin of history beckons.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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