A taxing issue

The Liberal Democrats are not going to be forming a government next Friday. They are not even going to be in coalition with the governing party, which is just as well in Calton's opinion. OK, so the Libdem plan to add a penny onto income tax will not cost low earners a lot, thanks to the fact that the personal allowance has increased massively in recent years. It still seems downright wrong to increase taxes on the lowest paid at all. Those who think it's OK to pay an extra penny tax to fund the NHS obviously are not in the position where every penny counts. They are not those who are going into debt each month to pay the rent. We all want a decent NHS but we should not be asking the poorest workers to pay extra for it. And if the moral argument against taxing the low-paid doesn't work, Tim Farron should consider Gordon Brown - he abolished the 10p tax rate, the tax paid by part-time cleaners went up and Brown ended up out of a job. Willie Rennie stood on the same ticket of raising income tax in the Holyrood election last year - his party was beaten into 5th place by the Greens. Raising the level at which we start to pay income tax has been a huge benefit to minimum wage workers and it is thanks to the Libdems that we have such a policy. They need to learn not to give with one hand and then claw back with the other.

Hold the nose and vote Libdem?

If there is one simple way the government can make work pay, it's increasing the amount someone can earn before the government starts taking it back off them in tax, which is why Calton is all in favour of the Libdem policy of raising the personal allowance. Leaving the lowest paid in society with more in their pockets means increased consumer spending, since low paid workers tend to spend all they earn on the necessities of life, which, in turn, benefits businesses. What's not to like? Calton could never understand why the Great Broon abolished the 10p tax rate, at a time when the personal allowance was less than £4k, thus increasing the tax take from the working poor - and he was supposed to be a Labour prime minister? Calton is hard pushed to think of a single other Libdem policy which he agrees with but it's almost worth voting for them to ensure they become part of another coalition government in order to force the other parties to increase the personal allowance to £12500. Almost.

Shake 'em up, Nigel

If taxes are not going to rise to pay for the SNP's welfare proposals, where's the money going to come from? Oil? And when the black gold runs out? Borrow like there's no tomorrow? (Oops - wrong party. Calton is getting confused with Gordon Brown. Mind you, apart from the unionist/nationalist thing there's not much to choose between the SNP and Labour since both are socialist, Europhile, big spenders.) Calton isn't sure that either campaign did themselves any favours today - while Sturgeon dug herself into an ever-deeper hole with her 'natural majority' and 'no rise in taxes', the Great Broon's reappearance on the political stage is hardly an encouragement to vote No if it means going back to the spend, spend, spend of the Labour years. It would be Hobson's choice for Scots, saddled with high spending and the EU whichever way they vote, if today's speakers were the whole story. Fortunately, there has been a sea-change down in England over the EU which might just cause some ripples up here, giving the voters more choice. Anything that shakes up the current stale old slagging match between Labour and the SNP has to be a good thing, in Calton's book.

Heading for the rocks

It really doesn't matter who is right about Scotland's share of the UK's debt because, if we become independent and the SNP remain in power, however low our debt starts out, it will soon go through the roof thanks to the prolific spending policies of the SNP and Scotland's ageing (and unhealthy) population. The worrying thing is that we are going to have to go into the independence referendum not knowing how the UK's debt is going to be divvied up, and Calton, for one, does not have the same confidence as the Deputy First Minister in the strength of Scotland's position. The same goes for the allocation of UK oil and gas revenues. What is clear is that Scotland has benefited over the years from a greater spend per head than the rest of the UK, partly in recognition of the contribution from her oil and gas to the overall UK economy. This is something which does not appear to figure in Sturgeon's calculations and, if Sturgeon thinks that the UK Government has mismanaged the economy over the last 30 years, she should remember that 13 of those years were under the 'spend, spend, spend' Labour Government of Gordon Brown's Chancellorship and Premiership. Even the Labour Party now agree that cuts need to be made but the good ship SNP is still steaming full ahead on the same disastrous course as the Great Broon - straight for the rocks.

Try to keep up, Ed

It's a bit late for Ed Miliband to be thinking of bringing back the 10p tax rate. It was a real help to the low paid back in the days when the personal allowance was less than £5k, and Gordon Brown made a huge error of judgement in abolishing it, but now that the Coalition Government has raised the personal allowance to more than £9k next year it has been overtaken by events. Many more people in low paid jobs, particularly part-time workers, pay no tax now, compared to 2008, and middle-income earners also benefit from the higher tax threshold. Calton is all for reducing the tax burden on the poorly paid, especially given the huge gulf between those on minimum wage and high earners, but reintroducing the 10p rate, paid for by a mansion tax, is not the way to go. We should be taxing income, not assets, otherwise we penalise those who work hard all their lives and save for a decent house in a nice area. They were taxed while they were working - why tax them again when they retire just because they've got a nice home?

Twenty questions

Calton is not a fan of the great Broon, however the former Prime Minister is quite right to call on the SNP to comment on "twenty unanswered questions" about independence and its effect on the Scottish nation. His reason for wanting to stay in the UK is obvious - he wants to avoid the "massive rupture" which leaving the union would undoubtedly cause and which the SNP are playing down for all they are worth. It would be helpful if the SNP would actually answer some of the questions posed by Brown instead of trotting out that old chestnut about not having the power over jobs, the economy and welfare. We'll be lucky if we have any jobs and economy to speak of in 2014 after two years of uncertainty.

Better late than never

So the party of 'spend, spend, spend' has finally woken up to the fact that we are giving far too much to the EU in these times of austerity. Either that or Labour just wanted a stick to beat David Cameron with because they are not known for being either prudent (and Calton is using the word in its true, pre-Brown sense) or anti-EU. Whatever the reason for their vote today it's better late than never. The EU budget is out of control and the British taxpayer is the loser. What Calton can't quite get his head round is a Conservative Government being defeated by Labour and its own backbenchers for not being tough enough on Europe. Extraordinary. Times are certainly changing.

Out of the Eurozone

Anyone who still thinks that joining the Eurozone is not a one-way ticket to loss of sovereignty must have their head stuck so far in the sand it's popping up in New Zealand. EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy, the man responsible for providing the EU's political direction, has made it clear that the single currency is irreversible. So much for Greece being able to bail out. And so much for German posturing about not being responsible for southern Europe's debts. When push comes to shove, as it did last night, preservation of the Euro comes out top and the Eurozone is one step further along the road to political, as well as financial, integration. Which is exactly where Van Rompuy, a fan of global governance, wants it. Calton can feel a Farage-style rant coming on when he considers that this Belgian unknown, who has just been chosen for another 30 month term not by the people of Europe but only by the 27 heads of the EU member states, can wield so much power behind the scenes. If Salmond doesn't want to become a puppet, he will follow the Great Broon's lead and keep well out of the Eurozone.

Lies, damned lies and the Leveson Inquiry

Who to believe? That is the question. Whether to go for Gordon 'no more boom and bust' Brown or the opposing side, Rupert Murdoch and Rebekah Brooks. The phrase 'Hobson's choice' springs to Calton's mind. He would certainly like to award full marks to the person at the Leveson Inquiry who asked the great Broon why he and his wife had remained on good terms with Brooks if Brown's assertion that the Sun had published details about their son's medical condition without their permission was correct. That seems to be straining forgiveness (and duty) too far in Calton's opinion. One thing is clear - there are some issues Leveson is never going to get to the bottom of.