U-turns are seemingly all the rage right now. When it’s not Labour and the Keirleaders backtracking on policy, it’s the turn of the SNP to pick up the slack. Back in, er, March Humza Yousaf campaigned to lead the SNP on a platform of increased ‘progressive taxation’: the idea that in a cost-of-living crisis he should, er, tax successful people more. Yet now it appears that the flailing First Minister is having second thoughts…
Yousaf proposed the introduction of a new tax band of 44 per cent income tax for those earning between £75,000 and £125,140. This is despite the Scottish government having previously introduced five different income tax bands, with Scottish taxpayers who earn north of £28,000 now expected to pay more than in the rest of the UK. But now senior government figures are thinking of scrapping the tax plans, according to the Times. One senior party figure says that income rises in December’s budget are ‘not going to happen’ while another admits: ‘If we can get to a position where we are not raising income tax then everyone would welcome that.
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