Letter: Not so taxing issue

What a depressing article Bill Jamieson's "Tax aims border on the impossible" was (27 January). When it comes to Scottish taxvarying powers, he has obviously contracted the Unionist "can't do" malaise.

Forming a limited company so you can pay dividends, rather than the higher income tax, is hardly a new ruse and not a new avoidance measure specifically for Scottish taxation.

Similarly, the objection that HMRC would need to track people's residence is not a difficult task as HMRC has your post code already and councils have been handling this exact problem as part of the community charge (and previously poll tax) for many years.

So, yes, it can be done more simply than he implies. As a good starting point and cost-saving measure, would it not be sensible to have one system to collect all the community charges across Scotland rather than all the councils having duplicate and disparate systems? This would provide a database of record for Scottish-based taxpayers in preparation for tax-varying powers and, hopefully, the abolition of the regressive community charge.

MICHAEL N CROSBY

Muiravonside

By Linlithgow