Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay has said the SNP’s budget lets down workers and businesses by forcing them to pay higher taxes than they would in the rest of the UK.
At First Minister’s Questions, Findlay said “people have had enough of taxes going up while public services decline.”
Findlay called the SNP’s boasts about reducing bills for lower earners a “con trick” which would only provide a tax cut of roughly one pound a month.
He also highlighted the scale of the crisis in the NHS, and comments from Scotland’s independent auditor general this week, which said the government has no plan for the health service and that changes are “urgently needed.”
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: “My party is proudly on the side of Scotland’s hard-working taxpayers and businesses. Our tax proposals are reasonable, affordable, fully costed and fully funded. They would deliver fairness for Scotland’s taxpayers.
“Instead of reducing tax, the SNP dragged more Scots into paying higher bills. Every worker in Scotland earning over £30,000 will be forced to pay more than those in the rest of the UK.
“It’s shameful that the SNP proudly boast they will make Scottish workers pay £1.7 billion more next year than if they lived elsewhere in the UK.
“John Swinney has no plan to reduce NHS waiting lists or bureaucracy. Hospitals across Scotland are in crisis. While the SNP health secretary takes taxpayer-funded limos to Pittodrie, down the road ambulances are being sent away from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
“The SNP’s big health pledge was a rehash of an old promise they were supposed to have delivered by September – three months ago.
“The SNP’s con trick on tax is worth – at most – about one pound a month to people earning less than £30,000. What are they supposed to do with that – buy a selection box from Poundland?
“This budget perfectly illustrates what a John Swinney government looks like – broken promises, no plans to fix the NHS, benefits rising out of control, bigger bills for business, higher taxes on workers, and more waste on ferries and nonsense projects.
“People have had enough of taxes going up while public services decline.
“This budget might work inside the left-wing Holyrood bubble, but it lets down workers and businesses in the real world.”