Readers' letters: Taxing the super wealthy further will fuel exodus from Scotland

The top one per cemt of taxpayers already pay 30 per cent of all income tax, so driving away these taxpayers means the rest of us have to shoulder more of the tax burden to plug the gap. Has Mr Greer never heard of the Laffer curve?

Why on earth can’t politicians expend their energy on creative solutions that grow the economy which would increase the size of the tax cake rather than constantly fighting about how to share a tax cake that they make smaller by their own actions?

Perhaps Mr Greer and other politicians need to look more closely at all the obstacles they place in the way of wealth creation and of building businesses. Businesses are the lifeblood of the country but every day they get more red tape, more restrictions, more interventions from government. If only each and every councillor and MP and MSP was forced to run a small business for a month or two, they might find just how difficult it is to keep businesses afloat. These businesses employ people known as taxpayers on whom Mr Greers’ grandiose spending plans depend, but in his ivory parliamentary tower with guaranteed income and excessive taxpayer-funded pension contributions, he has way too much time on his hands dreaming of how to spend other people’s money.

Brian Barbour, Prestonpans, East Lothian

Greer v Trump

I listened to the Radio Scotland’s Morning Call on Thursday about Donald Trump visiting his golf course in Aberdeen. Most of the first 20 minutes was devoted to Ross Greer’s hysterical rants. If his Green party colleagues and supporters aren’t ashamed of him they should be – and they should reflect on just how much freedom of speech there is in this country when a man beside whose name not one of Scotland’s 4.3 million voters put a cross beside in the last Holyrood elections. and whose party got a grand total of 34,000 list votes, gets so much airtime.

I hope when Trump comes to Scotland he points to the massive offshore wind farm a few miles out that, when I looked last night, was standing idle, and tell the world’s media about the SNP, Greens and Labour's crazy wrecking of the oil and gas industry, and the sinister woke policies that the Greens promulgate.

And that he poses the rhetorical question of Mr Greer, whether he, as a hater of Isral and supporter of Palestine, would be as apoplectic if the UK Government hosted a visit by Ayatollah Khamenei.

Allan Sutherland, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Resignation

Is Rachel Reeves genuinely “disappointed” by the latest GDP figures? Considering everything that’s happening these days, I think a weary sigh is the best we should expect.

Steve Hayes, Leven, Fife

Far-left fantasy

Neil Anderson (Letters, 9 July) wonders about the chances of a far-left party in the Holyrood election. Here’s his answer: a snowball’s chance in hell.

Tommy Sheridan's Scottish Socialist Alliance was the exception that tested the rule – led by a whip-smart, handsome natural orator and leader perfect for the modern era where the aesthetic matters more than the content.

But Scotland’s Toytown Revolutionaries were an inverted British army of the Somme, a Lion leading Donkeys packed with has-beens and never-would-bes whose clown car antics and utterances damned them long before Sheridan’s court case. Since its messy collapse, we’ve had all manner of “cunning plans” such as RISE which despite, saturation plugging by the media, got fewer votes in the 2016 Holyrood elections than even the Scottish Christian Party, and promptly vanished.

Little has changed in the alternative realities of Scotland’s far-left – the so-called current “electoral success” of Scotland’s Greens came as being the SNP’s sock puppets, for which in 2026 they will pay dearly. The brand is so self-tainted it has ceased for some time to be a viable option, and all the shouty machismo street posturing of its bully-boy adherents aren't going to change it.

Mark Boyle, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Party time

I understand that Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn are about to announce a new political party. Far be it from me to anticipate a sub-editor’s job but I pass it on to The Scotsman anyway. It surely must be called the Fruit ‘n’ Nut Party?

Paul F Galloway, Edinburgh

Defence of realm

How much grovelling did it take for this SNP government to win over the contract with BAE Systems to create three structural units at Ferguson Marine for the Royal Navy (Scotsman, 9 July).

No doubt this will be an awe-inspiring lifeline contract, that will be monitored closely by Kate Forbes for any delays, given that the security of the realm depends on it.

Archie Mackinnon, Glasgow

Something fishy

Steuart Campbell offers good possibilities for the attribution of sightings of Nessie (Letters, 8 July). Donald Campbell’s Bluebird was badly affected by the waves he had created on his first pass along Coniston Water in 1967, resulting in his death. It seems perfectly credible that a wave could be mistaken for a solid shape in the water.

Reports first became general after veterinary student, Arthur Grant claimed to have seen something on the road beside Loch Ness at night while riding there on his motorcycle in 1934. My father came into college one day, soon after. Grant was speaking to some qualified vets who were laughing at what he told them. He turned to my father to ask, “You’ll believe me, won't you?”, saying that he had actually seen a large shape crossing the road ahead of him, lit by the motorcycle headlamp and slipping into the loch. When the qualified vets said that what he had seen was a cow, the latter replied that, if he couldn’t identify a cow, then he had no business being a vet.

However, I would add another possibility to the others I have read, including deer swimming across the loch. My own suggestion is that it is entirely possible that a catfish could have been released into the loch at some point. To those who might scoff, I would point out that such fish are spectacular and specimens of 9ft in length have been caught. Indeed, one measuring 7ft was caught in the Seine last month in Paris and an 8ft-long catfish was caught in England in 2024.

Andrew HN Gray, Edinburgh

Blessed peace

Pope Leo XIV has offered to help broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Despite Russia's recent advances, they have been at great human cost, with over a million soldiers’ deaths since the outset of the war in February 2022.

While Ukraine may not win the war, as William Loneskie, suggests (Letters, 11 July), neither, I suspect will Russia. One can’t overestimate the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainians for taking what was intended to be a three-day “military operation” into its fourth year. They have achieved a stalemate.

The Pope’s offer should be grabbed with both hands, if only to prevent Donald Trump receiving the much coveted Nobel Peace Prize. Through his office and personal qualities, Pope Leo is likely to win the respect of Vladimir Putin, something that Trump has patently failed to do.

Putin is, allegedly, a church-goer, albeit infrequently. President Vlodomyr Zelensky is a practising Roman Catholic. Pope Leo XIV, with his worldwide power and perspective, is ideally suited for a role as peacemaker. After all he has a higher power on his side, who might just clinch the deal.

Ian Petrie, Edinburgh

The Enemy’s NHS

Now into my second week on holiday in deepest Englandshire, an example of the utter uselessness of devolution shows up.

I realised that my inhaler was about to run out so I had to visit the local pharmacy in Chipping Norton – home of Lord Clarkson of Diddly Squat fame, to facilitate a replacement. This was a complete nightmare as our NHS doesn’t talk to the Enemy – sorry English – NHS unless ridiculous numbers etc are known. Full name, date of birth or even a National Insurance number are useless.The look I got when I said we don’t have an app was one of consternation.

Thankfully the next day I was seen by another pharmacist and she just shook her head and said “you need this don’t you” and sold it to me – just to get it done. Why is it that the app in England isn’t here in Scotland? Because of the SNP.

This one example highlights the ridiculous them and us mentality of devolution and the SNP and their desperation to be different.

David Millar, Lauder, Scottish Borders

First past the post

Until today, I assumed that when I posted a letter with a first-class stamp, that meant next-day delivery. Now, I understand that I’m wrong. My local Post Office tells me that first flass now means one to three-day delivery and second class is three-five days.

So sorry to my friends and relations whose cards and parcels have arrived late. I’ll bear this in mind at Christmas!

Fiona Garwood, Edinburgh

Write to The Scotsman

We welcome your thoughts – NO letters submitted elsewhere, please. Write to [email protected] including name, address and phone number – we won't print full details. Keep letters under 300 words, with no attachments, and avoid 'Letters to the Editor/Readers’ Letters' or similar in your subject line – be specific. If referring to an article, include date, page number and heading.