NICOLA Sturgeon has warned that next year’s “tough” budget will divide the country.
The First Minister told the National Economic Forum in Edinburgh she hoped people would also appreciate its focus on growth and the economy.
Finance Secretary Derek Mackay will announce his draft budget for 2018/19 at Holyrood today, when he is expected to announce hikes in income tax for the better off.
Business leaders have warned Ms Sturgeon not to widen the “tax gap” between Scotland and the rest of the UK by pushing up rates using new powers over taxation. Ms Sturgeon has signalled her desire for a more “progressive” tax regime, with the better off paying more in order to help fund public services.
The First Minister’s chief economist warned on Tuesday that hiking the very top rate of tax from 45p to 50p for those on £150,000 salaries could cost the country money.
While a 50p rate could in theory raise £145m a year, the ability of the mobile rich to move elsewhere to avoid the levy could ultimately reduce revenues by £24m, he said.
Westminster cuts mean Scotland is already facing a real-terms revenue cut of £200m.
Addressing an audience of leaders from business, unions, government and the third sector, Ms Sturgeon said the budget would not be universally well-received.
She said: “I don’t expect that anyone in this room or indeed anybody across the country will agree with every single proposal but it does seek to strike the right balance.”
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
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel