Sir, As a small businessman, the prospect that the power to vary income tax should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament without a corresponding right to vary corporation tax fills me with horror.
I can imagine income tax going only upwards, to pay for the improved welfare state to which many aspire, and to help attain a more equal society and to properly safeguard the NHS, which I think is the aspiration of almost all of us.
However, unless the Scottish Government can cut corporation tax for small and medium-sized enterprises at the same time as raising the top levels of income tax for the very wealthy, the result will be to make Scottish business less competitive.
What we need are the tools to become more competitive, but corporation tax control, sought by the Scottish Government, has been ruled out by Gordon Brown, who made the telling remark that he did not want “a race to the bottom” on this.
In fact, a race to the bottom on corporation tax is just what small and medium-sized businesses need in Scotland, to allow them to increase investment and create more jobs.
The truth, of course, is that the last thing that Westminster wants is for Scottish business to become more competitive than business south of the border.
That is why it will not give us control of corporation tax
This leads me to conclude that the only answer for a small businessman like me is a “yes” next Thursday and I would urge all small and medium-sized business proprietors and their employees to follow me in casting their votes in this way.
A “yes” will give us control of all the fiscal levers we need to run our country in the best interests of all who live in it.
T R Bugler. The Neuk, Dunning.
‘Strange days indeed’
Sir, We Scots owe all that we are and have to our ancestors. Should the independence referendum prove a very close call, will their spirits rest easy if the fate of Scotland goes against the will of the majority of their current descendants?
A close call could coincide with their will, but with 750,000 Scots living in England, yet still in Britain, totally disenfranchised and many fine people, not of Scottish descent living in Scotland able to vote, a 1% gap, or less, could allow this not to happen.
Perhaps, if the outcome in either direction proves very close, a more sophisticated statistical approach should be employed that gives some extra weight to the votes of Scots of ancestral lineage; should the vote go against their will. However, this is unlikely to happen. As John Lennon once wrote: “Strange days indeed!”
Leslie Milligan. 18B Myrtlehall Gardens, Dundee.
Time to seize responsibilities
Sir, Let’s become an adult country like all the other independent states and seize our responsibilities and our even greater bounties.
Graham Young. 37 Polepark Road, Dundee.
It’s simple vote ‘no’
Sir, What does Yes stand for? Your Everyday Shop.
On September 5, 10 grocery items at Tesco Online Ireland cost £65.59; the same 10 items in Tesco Online Northern Ireland cost £50.31. That’s 30% cheaper.
Remember Alex Salmond’s “Celtic Tiger economy’’ which provided the model for an independent Scotland? Living standards there even after a multi-billion EU bailout have still to get back to 2003 levels. To protect your everyday shop and all your other household bills vote “no”. It’s as simple as that.
William Loneskie. 9 Justice Park, Oxton.
Declaration update?
Sir, We all know the SNP aims to hand over sovereignty to the (what will become a foreign) Bank of England. This will surely mean that true Scottish Bravehearts will again need to shout “Freedom” . . . and then proudly and dutifully head off to the polls . . . to vote “no”!
Perhaps we can playfully but truthfully update the Declaration of Arbroath to a more topical state to: “So long as a majority of 100 of us vote ‘no’, we will never hand over the main levers of economic policy to a foreign bank.”
Iain MacDonald. 41A Highfield Place, Birkhill, Dundee.
Thanks a lot guys…
Sir, So, the future of the UK, whether No or Yes “wins”, could well be determined by a handful of schoolchildren or by EU nationals with no long-term allegiance to either Scotland or the UK. Thank you Blair, Brown, Cameron et al.
John Birkett. 12 Horseleys Park, St Andrews.
Important to use it
Sir, Whether you are a “yes” voter or a “no” voter the most important thing now is to use that vote.
Pauline Craig. 22 Ferryield, Cupar.