Scotland is a bigger economic basket case than Greece: Country would have to double basic rate of income tax to tackle its public spending deficit
- A report by the Taxpayers’ Alliance says Scotland would need to plug its deficit through massive cuts or a tax hike to meet EU criteria
- It ran up a fiscal deficit of £14.8billion in 2015-16
- The group said Scotland is ‘living well beyond its means’
- Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will open the SNP’s conference in Glasgow today
The Taxpayers’ Alliance said that its deficit would have to be plugged to a more sustainable level by either massive cuts in public spending or hiking taxes, particularly if Scotland became independent.
Scotland ran up a fiscal deficit of £14.8billion in 2015-16 – and has run a deficit every year since devolution in 1999. To force it down to 3 per cent of GDP, as the EU demands under its stability and growth pact, Scotland would have to increase the basic rate of income tax from 20p to 39p or double VAT to 40 per cent. Or the Scottish government could instead embark on massive spending cuts of £3billion a year to meet the EU’s deficit criteria.
This would be the equivalent of all defence spending, public order and safety or transport – or slashing health spending by 82 per cent.