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Well worth a wee bit extra tax to get in return, e.g. free prescriptions, university fees, personal care,

 

The benefits of being in the United Kingdom and its associated fiscal transfer, which one will be first to go after independence I'll opt for the chronically underfunded personal care as that was a Labour policy?

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Should I get a refund on the over 20k I had to pay in tax to buy a house despite not having lived in Scotland for 17 years and not having been a drain on ANY Scottish resource whatsoever in those years ? I don't begrudge it (well, maybe a little) but I got absolutely ZERO for that 20k. Probably many more like me I suspect.

 

Maybe I'm missing something, but presumably you and/or your family are going to live in said house for a while? The vast majority of people would be happy to afford a house that takes 20k in stamp duty.

 

I doubt anyone actually likes stamp duty as it's an added expense at an expensive time - at worst I think it should be paid when you sell a house rather than buy - at least you have the money and usually made a bit for nothing.

 

Actually, I think maybe it would be better if you were only charged on the profit - but that might be bad for income in a recession. However, reducing tax income from one place means raising it somewhere else...

 

Anyway, I'm sure you'll get your money back from value the house easily enough and much more - while contributing ZERO. ;)

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Yep, we never had - Scotland voted to leave the UK in 1979, and Brexit is still iffy.

 

35 years after 1979 we had a simple, straightforward Yes or No vote and the majority voted No.

 

The 1979 vote is an irrelevance. So should the 2014 vote be by now.

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I'll say it again. Nationalists are no longer capable of discussing independence without reference to Brexit. Their proposition is so weak, so shallow that they're simply incapable or promoting it on its own.

 

Please, I ask again, will someone answer this question ... in what way and to what extent will the lives of my family be improved by independence?

Is this question really so difficult that the resident nationalists prefer just to ignore it? Surely any proponent of independence worth his salt would be rushing answer it. No?

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Maybe I'm missing something, but presumably you and/or your family are going to live in said house for a while? The vast majority of people would be happy to afford a house that takes 20k in stamp duty.

 

Being able to afford something and paying taxes are mutually exclusive. The tax I paid for that house was simply stamp duty to pay a house - I was paying that tax whether my family live in that house or not. There was absolutely ZERO way around that tax. The part you are missing is that I have drained ZERO from Scottish resources by way of services in 17 years, but here I am having to pay 20k in tax for the pleasure of it. Them living in the house has virtually zero bearing on the quantum of that tax that I have to pay. Rather, what the question SHOULD be... instead of being "you have the money so suck it up buttercup" (paraphrasing :D) "where are the 20k in services that you get for that tax" - and the answer is, in my case, NONE. Now... I am not averse to paying taxes (despite being an accountant) - but all this talk of "free prescriptions, free university, free care" is absolute hogwash. It is these taxes, such as the one I mention, which actually pay for those "free" services - so whilst Nats laud this whole mantra that things are "free" .... I am going to call it out as absolute bullshit. If a government is "balancing its books" then the taxes it collects should equal the services it provides... and, in my own personal case, quite clearly the government are making profit from my transaction because I have been a net contributor to Scotland over the years and they still take from me in stamp duty taxes.

 

Can you explain the relevance of "living in the house for a while" vs the tax paid on the property - living in the house justifies a 20k tax bill ? For clarity, I paid that tax willingly and knowing it was the system - doesn't mean it is just or equitable :thup:

 

I doubt anyone actually likes stamp duty as it's an added expense at an expensive time - at worst I think it should be paid when you sell a house rather than buy - at least you have the money and usually made a bit for nothing.

 

I agree - stamp duty should be paid when you sell, not buy - however.... it kind of is because every seller has a buyer :D - the stamp duty taxes are completely back to front.... charging you taxes when you buy which is at a time, as you say, when you probably can least afford it, makes little sense. Charge stamp duty on sales when you are collecting the sales proceeds would make more sense. The caveat to that is if you are under water when you sell - the proceeds may not even cover the mortgage so taxes wont get paid... which is why, I suspect, governments will never change the process - a sale cannot go through without paying stamp duty so to get your house you must find the money. If it were on sales... you could sell, declare bankruptcy and never pay the tax.

 

Actually, I think maybe it would be better if you were only charged on the profit - but that might be bad for income in a recession. However, reducing tax income from one place means raising it somewhere else...

 

I don't mind too much being charged on the value rather than profit, though profit would be more palatable to the populace - the key is to ensure that people aren't put at risk financially. I am fortunate in that I have a small property in Killie which has no mortgage, plus the house in West Lothian (which is what I paid the tax on) which has a mortgage higher than I would like - however, my fear is that if something happens to me then my kid won't be able to pay the likes of council tax or ends up having to sell a property just to pay tax bills (I should, as should all of us, consult tax specialists and create a will as soon as we can, regardless of what we have). I am trying to build him a mediocre passive income for when he is older - paying the taxman more than once on the same asset just seems wrong to me.

 

Anyway, I'm sure you'll get your money back from value the house easily enough and much more - while contributing ZERO. ;)

 

Ha - I wont be able to move from this house without generating equity unfortunately - I don't have calscot money so I am stuck with this place :D - also, unfortunately, I am now contributing considerably to the UK Treasury via mortgage, electricity, gas, petrol, groceries etc etc - because, whilst I am still in Bermuda and not subject to UK income tax... the wife and kid are there and costing me a fortune in goods and services which continue to attract tax. Plus.... even whilst I wasn't a drain on Scottish resources... I was most definitely a contributor - every time I flew home I was paying landing taxes at an airport, meals, groceries, rental cars, petrol, ohhhh and not to ignore the over $500,000 that my company spent on having Board meetings in Edinburgh... primarily because I was involved in helping determine location.... The Scottish tax purse has done very well from me in the time I have been away and not paying income tax :thup:

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