Letter: We need SNP route plan for prosperity

IT IS always enjoyable to read Bill Jamieson's pieces and his parable of the Sheep and the Shareholder (15 August) is no exception. However, as Mr Jamieson has waded into the shallow end of business tax with corporation tax, it has perhaps muddied his view of how the SNP administration could apply it.

There would be no need for an instant reduction in all corporation tax which would threaten to lose 2.6 billion; it could be reduced over a number of years as the Laffer ran up the curve.

The promise of future savings would attract businesses to move their reporting centres to Scotland. As for apportioning between Scotland and England, this does not happen at the moment and, while modern IT makes it relatively simple to separate cost centres without much administration, it would be a political decision to decide whether it should apply. Taking it to a logical conclusion would mean having to make separate payments to all countries in the European Union and throughout the world.

But lower rates of corporation tax are not the solution to business expansion; there are many other factors. Countries such as Japan, which has few natural resources, have been very successful but others rich in natural resources, such as parts of Africa, have not been.

The solution lies in education and ethos. Scotland has many natural resources, is not overpopulated and has a population capable of doing much more than it presently achieves.

What we need in addition to a complete overhaul of the tax system - taking in income tax, national insurance, all the levels of duty, VAT and business taxes - is a route plan from the SNP administration on how we are going to make full use of our resources.

In the run-up to the referendum, there is an ideal opportunity for the SNP administration to set out how it would take Scotland forward and how it would combine private enterprise and state-owned organisations and how they would fund Scotland.

Bruce D Skivington

Strath

Gairloch, Wester Ross

WARREN Buffett says he thinks that he doesn't pay enough tax (your report, 17 August).

Since he and most of the very rich derive most of their income from capital gains and dividends which are taxed at 15 per cent in the United States, one can understand how the vast majority who don't have the funds to invest are harder hit, having to pay income tax at 35 per cent.

His situation echoes that of many in the UK, who could very well pay more tax, but use whatever means possible to avoid doing so, by "legal" accounting methods, explaining why the government is considering abandoning the 50 per cent rate, on the grounds that it brings in insignificant extra revenue.

The problem here is not only a very generous tax regime for the rich but tax avoidance.

And we wonder why the under-class took the opportunity of a smash-and-grab last week in British cities. When the rich indulge in a free-for-all, is it surprising that sooner or later the "poor" decide to take matters into their own hands?

Trevor Rigg

Greenbank Gardens

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