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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 8h

5/ The full backstory is here:

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 11d

1/ Update. The data cited below strongly suggested that John Swinney misled parliament yesterday, but it wasn’t quite definitive. Because all taxpayers in Scotland benefit from the 19% starter rate, the tipping point at which taxpayers paid more in 2023-24 was about £2k above…

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 12d

1/ According to the latest Scottish Income Tax Outturn Statistics, intermediate + higher + top rate taxpayers were 57% of all taxpayers in Scotland in 2023-24.

These bands all pay tax at rates higher than the rUK equivalents.

Source: www.gov.uk/government/s...

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 8h

4/ And here is the FOI reponse from HMRC which provides the outturn data proving that Swinney misled parliament. www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/scot...

Scottish tax payers - a Freedom of Information request to HM Revenue and Customs

Can you please provide data confirming the number of people in Scotland (ie with a Scottish tax code) who earned less than £27,850 and the number of people who earned more than this for the 2023/24 ta...

www.whatdotheyknow.com

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 8h

3/… the SFC forecasts for the previous two financial years were wrong. Here is John Swinney, telling parliament something which simply isn’t true.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 8h

2/ Everyone knows that the claim originated in SFC forecasts. But we now have HMRC outturn data which demonstrates that the SFC forecasts for 2023-24 and 2024-25 were wrong. It is dishonest in the extreme to continue to rely on an SFC forecast for 2025-26 when we know…

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 8h

1/ This is outrageous. John Swinney misled parliament by falsely claiming that more than half of taxpayers in Scotland pay less income tax than if they lived elsewhere in the UK. Scot Gov says this is perfectly fine because his remarks were based on SFC forecasts for 2025-26.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 12h

Shirley-Anne Somerville refuses (repeatedly) to address the question of how an independent Scotland would deal with its fiscal deficit. Nick Robinson eventually gives up, and winds up the interview.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 16h

The full Scotcast episode can be found here:

BBC Radio Scotland - Scotcast, How smart is the SNP independence plan?

And Chris Mason on major parties receiving a 'kick in the whatsits'.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 16h

Martin Geissler’s debrief on his Sunday Show interview with John Swinney. Hard to argue with any of this. #Scotcast

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

The latest evisceration is here:

Lawyers debunk Swinney’s plan to force fresh referendum

Claims that an SNP majority in the Holyrood election would pave the way for indyref2 ‘have no legal precedent’

www.thetimes.com

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

If he’s not careful, John Swinney is going to get a reputation for pitching stupid ideas which are immediately torn to shreds by experts…

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

Màiri McAllan said this morning that independence was all about breaking away from “neoliberalism”.

John Swinney said in 2012 that the opportunity to make Scotland a tax haven was what most excited him about independence. www.ft.com/content/66bc...

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

Here is the clip:

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

The video which ran before John Swinney’s speech showed this wave energy converter as he claimed independence would reduce energy bills in Scotland. The cost of wave power is £360-£380/MWh - about 4.5x higher than the wholesale cost in bills today. His rhetoric is utterly false.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

Shocking scenes at SNP conference as someone says perfectly sensible things about energy, specifically nuclear power. It was an isolated incident, and his plea for sanity was overwhelmingly defeated.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

And if he’s really interested in the details, this:

Wrong With The Wind

Scotland has substantial renewable energy resources, and that’s a very good thing. But hugely exaggerating the size of the potential resource for political purposes is not a good thing. This is the st...

www.these-islands.co.uk

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

Bill Kidd should read this:

Scottish government admits key wind power statistic is wrong

Incorrect claims that Scotland has 25% of Europe's offshore wind potential had been repeated by several SNP ministers.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 1d

Surely nobody could be dumb enough to claim “Scotland has 25% of Europe’s offshore wind potential” at this year’s SNP conference? Step forward Bill Kidd MSP, who makes the even more ludicrous claim that Scotland has 25% of *all* the renewables potential in Europe.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

Bold idea at SNP conference today: a campaign against online falsehoods.

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

John Swinney believes that Scotland’s renewables are the answer to every question about the economics of independence. He is profoundly wrong. This piece explains why.

Infinite and Everywhere

The journey to net zero means leaving behind the fossil fuel era, and moving towards a world which will power itself by capturing energy from super-abundant resources. This has profoundly important co...

www.these-islands.co.uk

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Reposted by Sam Taylor

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

Another mauling for John Swinney on his ludicrous currency proposals. This time, all he can do is accuse Martin Geissler of being overly gloomy, and suggest that Scotland’s renewables will somehow come to the rescue. Desperate and embarrassing stuff.

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

Big news. Shona Robison has found the top of Scotland’s Laffer curve. Not clear if we are currently sitting atop that peak, or already on the downslope…

The Scotsman @scotsman.com · 2d

We’ve reached our limits on raising income tax in Scotland, says SNP finance secretary
www.scotsman.com/news/politic...

We’ve reached our limits on raising income tax in Scotland, says SNP finance minister

The Scottish Government has reached its limits on income tax, the Finance Secretary has said.

www.scotsman.com

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

And here:

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

How does John Swinney respond to a very fair question about the GERS figures? In the most facile way imaginable: “the UK has a deficit too, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, blah blah blah…”

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

How does John Swinney respond to a very fair question about the GERS figures? In the most facile way imaginable: “the UK has a deficit too, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, blah blah blah…”

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

John Swinney believes that Scotland’s renewables are the answer to every question about the economics of independence. He is profoundly wrong. This piece explains why.

Infinite and Everywhere

The journey to net zero means leaving behind the fossil fuel era, and moving towards a world which will power itself by capturing energy from super-abundant resources. This has profoundly important co...

www.these-islands.co.uk

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Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

Continuation of interview is here:

Sam Taylor @staylorish.bsky.social · 2d

Another mauling for John Swinney on his ludicrous currency proposals. This time, all he can do is accuse Martin Geissler of being overly gloomy, and suggest that Scotland’s renewables will somehow come to the rescue. Desperate and embarrassing stuff.

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