Dear All
It seems that the biggest 'back of a fag
packet' document in the history of Scottish independence has led leading
figures in tax and finance to join the chorus from the heavens of Scots asking for more detail
from the Scottish Government.
The business plan for independence is a
joke, much like the defence plan, the EU, the currency debacle and of course
NATO membership.
The SNP administration badly botched the White
Paper by turning it into a political manifesto, two SNP manifestos smashed
together into one. It is what it is, an insult to Scotland and to its people.
If people thought the SNP were capable of
producing a detailed route map, this blueprint yet again shows the endless lack
of talent in the party which is run as a clique under Alex Salmond and unpopular Nicola Sturgeon.
Majors concerns are in all areas, but
business leaders are focused on business and that means they need clarity about
tax policy.
Atholl Duncan, executive director at the
Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (Icas), said:
"Accountants want to see the evidence.
They want to see the numbers; it's in their DNA. So as a political document,
the White Paper may be deemed by some to be excellent. That's for others to
judge. But it's not a business plan, it's a political manifesto."
It seems that Alex Salmond and Scotland’s
unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon misjudged the mood of the
people again!
Duncan has rightly questioned central SNP
proposals such as growing the economy by cutting corporation tax, the race to
the bottom which doesn’t help as other countries can follow suit.
Duncan added:
"The White Paper says this will create
27,000 jobs, but lower corporate taxes are not necessarily the main driver.
There are many other factors which influence corporate decision making about
where people will locate and create jobs. That's why we see a corporate tax
rate of 30% in Germany and yet it's one of the UK's main competitors for inward
investment. While lower corporate taxes are a good thing, they don't on their
own create thousands of jobs."
In other words, the SNP have decided to
gamble on assumption while forgetting about proper planning.
That is incredibly stupid.
And then there is the question if the EU or
rest of UK would "allow" such a cut in a currency union?
Scotland may find itself out of the EU on
the sidelines for years if it gets vetoed by someone like Spain. Also less we
forget the main political parties have already said that currency union isn’t
on the table.
David Glen, a tax expert at PWC Scotland
said on lack of clarity:
"This is one of these points when you
look at the White Paper there's a certain level of detail, but perhaps it
doesn't go to the level of detail that we all might want. You can perhaps
understand that; we're three years away. Is anyone going to lay down hard and
fast policies?"
Glen pinpointed the bizarre claim made by a
Nationalist pledge that there will be no need for Scotland to raise the general
rate of taxation to fund existing levels of spending. Everyone knows that if
you want Nordic welfare you have to have Nordic tax.
What?
70% to you and me!
Glen added:
"What does general rate of taxation
mean? Is it basic rate? Is it average rate? Don't assume your tax is going to
stay exactly the same. I think that insinuates that overall it might be the
same but there might be some rebalancing throughout."
For a paper that was suppose to answer everything,
this piece of tripe leaves no one any the wiser, if you are undecided then you
have no option but to vote No to independence, the work still hasn’t been
carried out to a basic standard of competence.
This White Paper runs to around 670 pages, I
was expecting hefty tomes running into volumes, and Salmond and Sturgeon couldn’t
manage that, 80 years campaigning for independence and they still don’t know
what that means!
Critics say the paper is an uncosted
wish-list which fails to answer the big questions on major change, we are
entitled to know everything, and we are given vague promises and tat. There is
no guarantee that Scotland could keep sterling as currency.
Questions aren’t going away about how hard
it will be to renegotiate terms for EU membership, Scotland would start from
scratch and lose all UK opt outs.
Phil Anderton, a board member of Better
Together said:
"Welcome to the real world of business
where there are no wish-lists, there are no assumptions and there are no
half-truths. What we are talking about is the future of the United Kingdom and
Scotland. It's a debate about the governance of this country, not about short-term
party political pledges that we hear so often."
A new poll published after the white paper
says only 22% of Scots support it, and as the facts come out that the SNP have
failed to address major and minor concerns, the No vote will harden.
The meltdown in the Scottish National Party
will continue, they have nowhere to go after this botched white paper, in
business you can’t sell what people don’t want to buy!
Yours sincerely
George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow
University
1 comment:
The SNP claim windfarms will produce 27000 jobs
They're built abroad and probaby take 2 guys in a white van to maintain and service them.
Subsidised at the moment by 60 million people. Independence will bring that down to 5 million.
Business eh? Seems basic arithmetic fools them.
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