Just Saying...

After the recent budget in Scotland, social media and the media have started the usual selfish complaining about Scotland (again). Mostly it's just headline clickbait without any substance about getting all this free stuff while paying more tax etc But its' the selfish comments that I find interesting.

Some of my favourite comments about the so-called unfair tax system in Scotland are similar to this one :
"I pay 21% tax and all I get is free prescriptions (which is usually a pack of antibiotics every 2 years or so..) And a free eye test every 2 years if needed. How is that fairer? It’s pish."
"I only need x and y so the tax system is unfair" is a pretty common theme.

Personally, I don't need the education system for myself, I don't need personal care (yet), I very rarely need a prescription. I don't need a baby box, I don't need lots of things that are funded through taxation but I am happy for example, to contribute towards making sure that my elderly mother (and everyone else's) can get the care and medication they deserve.

How many parents and grandparents would no longer be with us now if we were all as selfish as some people seem to be? Prescriptions funded by taxation remove some of the strain placed on the NHS by making sure that people are getting the correct medicines. By removing the initial financial costs people are more likely to take the medication prescribed thus removing pressures on frontline services.

The term free should be removed. We don't say we get free police, free fire fighters, free street cleaners,free primary schools, free secondary schools etc, they are funded by taxpayers money. We don't say we have free hospitals. Hospitals are funded through taxation in the same way that, in Scotland, elderly care, prescriptions, baby boxes, elderly bus travel etc are all funded through taxation. These services aren't free but the value to those people who benefit from them is well worth the cost.

We now live in a society where austerity has given people a stark choice between eating food or heating your home. Imagine making that decision to either die of hunger or die of cold. Then imagine adding to that the cost of a prescription. What would you choose? would you choose to eat?, would you choose to heat your home? or would you choose your medication? Which would you choose to do without?

Free childcare for Under Fives isn't free either, it is paid for through taxation. This allows parents who are struggling to make ends meet due to wage stagnation to go out to work, to contribute to society and to put back in what they take out.

Employees who get sick will not only lose their first 3 days of sick pay (around £200 on minimum wage), they would then have to consider the costs of any medication if required to get them back to work sooner. In Scotland, you don't have that additional worry but in rUK you are now going to have to find over £9.00 per item. Do you choose to be off work longer or do you choose your medication?

Although higher earners in Scotland pay a bit more, those on lower incomes pay a bit less than or the same as in rUK. If you look at the rest of the UK, the income tax system does not include prescriptions, elderly health care or higher education etc so if all of that was to be paid for through taxation, taxation in the rest of the UK would have to rise. Scotland already budgets for these things in its tax spending.

Andy