Scottish tax plan 'bad news for business'

Date: 18th July 2008

Businesses in Scotland would be hurt by proposed tax reforms in the country, a leading pressure group has said.

Recently, the Scottish National Party proposed a new system of local income taxation as a possible replacement for council tax.

However, the Federation of Small Business (FSB) told the local Herald newspaper that the plans were "bad business sense".

The criticism follows similar concerns voiced by the CBI, the Institute of Directors and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

FSB spokesperson Andy Willox explained to the paper that the proposed tax would create "more costs, more red tape [and] more bureaucracy" for the country's small businesses.

He said that the plan would make Scottish businesses less competitive in comparison to their English rivals.

"Indeed, there are questions around whether employees would even want to stay in Scotland if they could be taxed less and earn more for the same work in England," Mr Willox is reported to have said.

"On top of this, these proposals are short on detail, leading to yet more uncertainty and making it harder for businesses to plan for the future."