Budget completely fails to deliver for Businesses and families in Mid-Scotland and Fife
Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP, Murdo Fraser, has slammed Derek Mackay’s first budget as it delivers higher taxes for families and punitive rates for businesses.
The newly installed Finance Minister, has chosen not to match the UK Government and cut the higher income tax band threshold that would reduce the tax burden of doctors, nurses and teachers. Instead the SNP Government has chosen to rubber stamp punitive increases to council tax for modest family homes.
However, in an embarrassing climb-down, following Conservative pressure, the SNP have abandoned plans to shift council tax revenue from local authorities and place them in under-performing schools in another area.
Commenting Murdo Fraser MSP said:
“This is a budget that fails to grasp what businesses and families across Perth and Kinross, Fife, Stirling and Clackmannanshire need and want.
“Businesses don’t need a tax that makes the cost of trading higher than anywhere else in the UK and middle-income families are desperate for the type of tax relief the UK Government is delivering for the rest of the country.
“In addition to these tax decisions the Scottish Government is taking £130 million from Local Authorities budgets in a move that will deprive rural services of vital support, this is not protecting local services.
“Today, I called for a budget that grows the tax base, one which rewards hard work and makes Perth and Kinross, Fife, Stirling and Clackmannanshire a competitive place to live and work. It is time for the Scottish Government to deliver this.”