Taxing matters
What could be the implications of the recommendations for Northern Ireland? We are just off air from "Stormont Live". Fairly predictably, Sinn Fein's Jennifer McCann argued for more tax varying powers for Stormont whilst the DUP's Simon Hamilton appeared more sceptical about going it alone.
It's the Scottish parties in favour of the union, not the SNP, who are backing the Calman proposals. The SNP wants total not partial fiscal independence. In that context it looks like change is coming, and in the long term can Stormont be treated as a special case?
If applied to Northern Ireland, local tax varying powers would surely have an impact on the subsidy from the bloc grant and the future of faced by a local demand for more resources, wouldn't a London based Treasury minister be tempted to respond "go and raise the cash yourself"?
However the Alliance's Stephen Farry thinks Stormont shouldn't be frightened of taking on taxation powers. He argues that "greater control over taxation would give our local institutions much greater potential to make variations in local policy, to do things differently, and to re-balance and to modernise economy......Tax-varying powers do not necessarily mean higher taxes, rather they can relate to lower taxes. For example, a devolved Executive would be able to give targeted tax breaks to encourage economic activity, while accepting that there would be the cost of a consequent fall in revenue in the short-term. This was the ethos behind the local campaign for a differential rate in Corporation Tax."
Of course scotched that idea. Could Sir Kenneth Calman indirectly open the debate up once again?
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