LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Smoke and mirrors Autumn statement and local need before cruise company profits
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AS the dust begins to settle after the Chancellor’s Autumn statement, all that glitters in the way of much-heralded tax cuts by Mr Hunt is not gold.
While the Chancellor announced a cut in National Insurance (NI) rates, he opted to leave NI and income tax thresholds untouched, meaning they remain frozen until 2028.
Through what is known as fiscal drag, with pay increases to ease the cost-of-living crisis this has pulled more people into paying a larger amount of tax on their personal income.
According to official figures, some 2.2 million more workers now pay the basic rate income tax of 20 per cent compared with three years ago, while 1.6 million more people now find themselves in the 40 per cent tax bracket over the same period.
Through a clear case of smoke and mirrors, it has been estimated that by 2029 almost four million more people will be paying income tax, and three million will move into the higher tax bracket.
The amount of extra income tax the Treasury is getting from fiscal drag from 2022 to 2028 is the equivalent to a 6p increase in the basic rate of income tax. This dwarfs the National insurance cut, and means that this is set to be the biggest tax raising Parliament in modern times.
Alex Orr
Marchmont Road
Edinburgh
Reading Philip Murray's piece I am struck by the apparent assumption on all sides that all infrastructure in the Highlands is primarily for corporate profit at local's expense.
For goodness sake, local needs must come before the cruise liner company profits!
Scotrail should simply require the cruise liner companies to charter trains for their passengers instead of expecting locals to put up with this while they laugh all the way to the bank.
SEE ALSO: No easy solution to overcrowded ScotRail trains caused by booming Highland cruise market
Meanwhile everyone locally, including you, wring hands and wait for some sort of upgrade that is years away.
If the cruise ships can't or won't do anything to resolve this, we need a genuinely independent, locally based review of the costs and benefits of this type of tourism.
The cruise liners can well afford it.Let them contribute something to the local economy and offer a better service to their own customers too. Cruise liners exploit our communities and environment for corporate profit. What do locals get back? A polluted environment and a worn-out, over exploited infrastructure never built for such use.The vast majority of cruise ship passengers never leave the ship, and those that do bring little genuine local benefit.
Oh, and let's see some more robust reporting please that stands up to this corporate abuse.
John Wood
Bridge Cottage
Poolewe
Agree or have a different viewpoint? Drop us a line at newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk
