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Chamber and committees

Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 10 July 2025
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Displaying 2881 contributions

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Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate legislation

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

John Mason

We have covered quite a lot of ground already, but I will just go over one or two points again. To take some figures as an example, if a second home buyer or somebody who intends to buy to let has a budget of, say, 拢104,000, at present that would be 拢100,000 for the property and 拢4,000 for tax. If we put the tax up to 6 per cent, that would mean that that person has only 拢98,000 to pay for the property and 拢6,000 for tax, roughly. Therefore, the house price comes down by 拢2,000 and competitors, such as first-time buyers, will be advantaged because they will have to beat a lower figure to get the property. It seems obvious to me that this will benefit first-time buyers. Is my logic roughly correct?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate legislation

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

John Mason

My example would be better with higher figures at which the tax would come into play but, because I live in a property that is valued at less than 拢100,000, I tend to think of figures in that direction.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate legislation

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

John Mason

The point remains that it is clearly an advantage for first-time buyers if their competitors basically have less money to compete with them.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Subordinate legislation

Meeting date: 17 January 2023

John Mason

I realise that you do not want to stray beyond your remit, but a lot of constituents who are in the private rented sector and definitely do not want to be in it come to me. They are there because it is the last resort for them. They cannot get an RSL house and they cannot afford to buy. Anything that moves the balance a little bit towards the first-time buyer and away from the private rented sector, even if it is only 2 per cent, has to be a good thing for my constituents.

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

As I understand it, you are looking for a 4.8 per cent cash increase this year. Some parts of the public sector have been given a flat-cash settlement. If the Parliament was to offer you a flat-cash settlement, what would that mean in practice?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

I understand that and I am not really arguing with it, but other parts of the public sector are under the same pressures. We have discussed commissioners at some length. For clarity, who should take an overview of commissioners? Is it this committee? I accept your point that it is not the corporate body鈥檚 responsibility to say no, and I am sure that all the individual commissioners are doing and will do good work, but somebody needs to look at the overall picture and say that the money is not going into front-line services but into commissioners. Who should take that overall view?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

I do not make many suggestions.

I will move on. Is the contingency increase from 拢1 million to 拢1.5 million simply cover in case inflation hits a particular area harder than we expect?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

That was kind of you, convener.

Just to pursue the pay side of things, if my understanding is correct, an increase of 2 per cent was built into the budget for the current year. You indicated that we could cope if it went up to 5 per cent during the year, but once it went over that, cuts would have to be made to balance it out, and extra would have to be paid. What assumption on pay is built into next year鈥檚 budget?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

To pursue something that Michelle Thomson raised, a practical point is that, if one or more of the pay disputes is not settled by 31 March 2023, that presumably means that there is money sitting in this year鈥檚 budget that could have been paid out but will not be paid out until next year. Will that go into the reserve?

Finance and Public Administration Committee

Budget Scrutiny 2023-24

Meeting date: 10 January 2023

John Mason

I understand that, although I think that the Scottish social attitudes survey said that the public were open to higher taxes and redistribution. Also, the expert panel made the point that we are not very progressive on property taxes generally at the moment.