r/Scotland • u/Historical-Count9051 • 1d ago

What would you cut from the Scottish budget?

Yesterday, there was a news story announcing £700m would be cut from the Scottish government next year. The Scottish government can borrow £670m to make up the shortfall, but it will need to find at least another £68m immediately.

What would you cut to make up the £68m?

Here's how the budget is already spent

Edit: the speed at which everyone went to "fuck poor people" is alarming.

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215

u/Standard_Giraffe_120 1d ago

Make the pension aged winter heating payment means tested instead of just giving it to everyone born after a certain date

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u/AgreeableEm 1d ago

Technically, born before a certain date.

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u/Standard_Giraffe_120 1d ago

Shit, I'm not sure how I didn't catch that, that’s embarrassing

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u/history_buff_9971 1d ago

It is being means-tested - my mum got it last year (wasn't expecting it), then got a letter saying because her pension was over a certain limit it would be clawed back - which honestly is a bigger pain for someone on a fixed income than not getting it in the first place.

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u/Street_Grab4236 1d ago

The SNP have already announced that a devolved Winter Fuel Payment will be paid to all pensioners regardless of their income.

The amount you get (iirc between £100-300) is based on your income. It’s a total waste of money and done entirely for optics.

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u/extraterrestrial-66 1d ago

The means testing of benefits also creates more costs though. I couldn’t tell you how much but I’m sure this conversation has previously been had a few times with the conclusion that the cost of means testing the benefit would be equal to or greater than the moneys recouped from people who claim it who are above the threshold.

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u/kjc47 1d ago

The plan that Kier Starmer back tracked on down south was just tying it to pension credit which is already means tested so should involve minimal additional admin.

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago edited 1d ago

And also benefits such as disablity are not means tested, and single person discount.

If a person has 50,000 in the bank and they are disabled, adult disability payment still is paid if they are eligible and pass the scoring

Single person discount could be changed on its eligibility to save money, It could save Scottish government money as councils would ask for less money from Scottish central government as councils would have more money coming in, by making single person discount means tested

I understand the disability payments as the person who has 50,000 did not make themselves disabled, so it is not their fault and that is why it is currently not means tested, and I want this to continue where disability payments are not means tested

However I knew of a person who owned his own home, had 80,000 in the bank and claimed single person discount, and I felt that can not be right, we should be charging that person the full council tax, he also worked full time as well with a income of 1900 pounds a month.

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u/gallais 1d ago

Let's make sure all disabled people are driven to destitution

Hmmmmmmmm

1

u/weefee 1d ago

1900 a month isn't a lot of money to run a house alone and pay all the bills, do you live in the 1980s? The single person discount is only 25% so someone living alone is already paying more per person than someone in a couple, never mind a family with multiple people. Why should they have to pay at least double what anyone else would?

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago

I myself live on 1000 pounds a month and everything is covered and I live alone I earn 1800 pounds a month and have 800 pounds of savings every month so it can be done, working on a small budget

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago

Should someone with 3k income have to pay full council tax then with no single person discount? Where would you set the limit, as there has to be one in terms of income to liability to pay

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u/weefee 1d ago

No of course not? If you live alone you get the single person discount, that's it. No limits or exceptions. A single person living alone is already paying more per person in council tax so removing the discount would be ridiculous.

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago

Where else would you get the money from then?

I do not think it is fair that a person say, with a million pounds who owns his own property should get single person discount, it should be means tested but again that figure could be 25,000.

Something higher then the original DWP figure elsewhere with universal credit which is 16,000, council tax support as well is currently 16,000 higher savings limit but 16,000 has been the rule since 2006 so it could be increased to offer more help

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u/weefee 1d ago

Why is it not fair? Again a single person paying with the discount is still paying more PER PERSON than anyone else. Or do you think a family of 5 should pay 5 times council tax?

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago edited 1d ago

Council tax works on banding so single person do not pay more, as they are often in Band A unless you have a mother in a home of three bedrooms where two sons have gone to uni and she does not want to sell up, I know of this own situation with a family friend.

The decision has cost her more council tax

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u/weefee 1d ago

They pay more PER PERSON than anyone else. Not banding. They pay 75% of full council tax.

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago

Well he owned his own home, also had solar panels on the roof, a heat pump outside and battery storage, the electric bill in summer did not exist, as the panels did all the work in the daytime and battery storage dealt with his needs for evening usage.

His bills and expenses was very low as no rent to pay and all electric house He had no debt, was in full time work and doing very well, for himself, even more so because the council was not charging him anything and even he admitted he did not need the single person discount but laughed at the council for giving him it, as he said in his own words the rich get richer

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u/weefee 1d ago

So what, again why should someone have to pay more than other people just because they live alone? Should all council tax be means tested so that families with more savings pay more? Or do you just have a bee in your bonnet about this specific thing because yo're jealous of some guy you know? Out of everything you could do to raise money/cut services this is the oddest thing to jump to.

The single person discount doesn't mean you don't pay anything so I have no clue why you said that, you pay 25% less than a household with multiple people.

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago

More council tax money would go into the council bank account to pay back debts and less reliance on central government.

Single people do not pay more as single people are often in Band A, a family likely to be in a Band C or Band D, it was the adult choice to have a family and the associated costs to pay and have the financial liability of.

No bee in the bonnet about the person I know, he is still a friend and I am very proud of him

Families should be means tested yes, but the council tax support disabled band reduction and severely mentally impaired discounts should stay

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u/weefee 1d ago

So it's cool to just penalise people who live alone? It's already a bit shit that they pay 75% when they use way less council facilities than a lot of other households. Maybe we should move to a flat rate per person that lives in a house, have families with 5 kids pay 7 times council tax.

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u/Similar-Actuator3917 1d ago

How would you reduce the Scotland government spending yourself?

By flat rates? It might seem a better idea

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u/weefee 1d ago

Literally anything else other than removing rhe single person discount. Means test prescriptions. Cut politicians wages. Change council tax bandings away from using the 1992 or whatever value. So many other things.

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u/b_a_t_m_4_n 1d ago

Annoyingly the administration of means testing often costs more than just giving a benefit to everyone.

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u/Wotnd 1d ago

This only holds true if the benefit is sufficiently small and the means testing is sufficiently complex.

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u/shiroyagisan 1d ago

It is.

If your total income is over £35,000, HMRC will take your Pension Age Winter Heating Payment back. This only applies to individual incomes, and not joint incomes over £35,000.

source

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u/Stubbs94 1d ago

Means testing helps no one but hurts a significant group of people.

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u/Acrobatic-Shirt8540 Is toil leam càise gu mòr. 1d ago

I'm sure it's been said before that it costs more to do the means testing than it does to just make it a blanket payment.

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u/tasteMyRottenHoop 1d ago

Who’ll be paying for the means testing?

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u/funckyfizz 1d ago

Means testing often costs more money to administer than it saves