Chamber and committees

I refer back to our previous discussion. There are four bullet points in paragraph 1.23 on page 17 of the report that I find very telling in terms of the robustness of the figures around Scottish income tax. To me, they clearly indicate that there is a real problem in calculating the figures.

We talked about the notional £800 million figure. Bullet point 3 says that the figures that are being used

“do not exclude tax from savings and dividend income”.

You cannot possibly get something accurate out of those figures, because that is not an area within the Scottish Government’s tax authority.

Bullet point 2 refers to the “differing proportions” of types of taxpayers north and south of the border. The figures are completely distorted, because London, for example, is massively overrepresented in terms of the top income tax payers. We do not have that situation in Scotland. If we are using a methodology to calculate the figures that does not account for that incredible difference, how can the figures possibly be accurate?

But it comes back to the theme of estimates and assumptions that runs through all of this. For example, paragraph 1.11 on page 13 says:

“HMRC deducts an estimate of the Scottish share of tax reliefs given against PAYE liabilities.”

How does it reach that figure? What is it based on? Is it based on some of the flawed data that you have highlighted in paragraph 1.23?

I also note paragraph 1.16 on page 14, which says:

“HMRC calculated both deductions by estimating the Scottish share of each tax relief claimed across the UK using historical data.”

I do not know what those “historical data” are.

I will pick up on a couple of points. You touched on rates relief and seemed to indicate that that is not tremendously beneficial in some ways. However, since 1 April 2020, businesses—not just in the tourism and hospitality sector—have saved a total £1.6 billion in rates. That is not inconsiderable; it is a fairly large sum.

I would like to explore debt levels. You mentioned the bounce back loans: if they have been drawn down, businesses have not spent them because they are afraid of repayments. We have heard about that in previous evidence. To what extent is that an issue?

I know that members have already touched on elements of this, but I want to explore competitiveness. Every destination across the globe has been impacted by Covid-19, and they are all trying to build back their businesses. Indeed, they are investing heavily in that.

Ireland has been highlighted as spending €288.5 million on tourism this year. Of course, Ireland benefits from the Brexit compensation fund, which gives it €920 million. That is a nice sum of money to be able to work with. We certainly do not have access to anything like that.

Being competitive is of vital importance to the economy. If we are not competitive, our industries will go down, the economy will shrink and we will all be poorer, so it is incredibly important. If we just measure it in money, it seems quite difficult for us to be competitive. Do we measure competitiveness only in money, or are there other clever things that we can do to compensate for the fact that we do not have the sort of cash that other countries are pouring into tourism?

So the 2,000 businesses that you referred to are Scottish businesses alone?

Thank you. I will ask Marc Crothall to comment.

Can I just break in there? You mentioned 2,000 businesses. It is already agreed that the hospitality and tourism sector as a whole is incredibly complex. Where are those 2,000 businesses in terms of the overall picture? Who are they? Are they hotels?

I recall from previous evidence sessions on hospitality and tourism that Ireland receives a multiple of the number of visitors that Scotland does. That seems to indicate that it is much more successful at attracting tourists. Could you comment on that?

I have one last question. How do you measure competitiveness against other countries?