Q:
Why is Labour under pressure over its devolution proposals?
A: Labour wants to give Holyrood control over 15p of the 20p basic rate with an additional power to raise, but not lower, rates in the upper bands. The Conservatives and LibDems want Holyrood to have complete freedom on both, though under the Tory proposal the personal allowance - the threshold at which income becomes taxable - would continue to be set in London.
Q: What's wrong with Labour's plan?
A: Activists Labour for Scotland fear the party is not responding to a public appetite for more radical devolution. The Red Paper Collective believes Labour's limited proposals miss an opportunity for a more progressive tax regime.
Q: Are there other concerns?
A: Economists Paul Hallwood and Ronald MacDonald yesterday warned Labour's plan was the "least desirable" in terms of placing a genuine responsibility on MSPs to use the tax system to boost the economy. They argued that under Labour's proposals, the Scottish Government would not face real pressure to raise money as Westminster would still provide a safety net through the Barnett Formula.
Q: So why is Labour not arguing for greater devolution?
A: Devolving all of income tax would help make the Tories' case for "English votes for English laws" (Evel). If the Tories get their way on English votes, it could prevent a future Labour government relying on its Scots members to establish a working majority.
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 hereComments are closed on this article