{"id":557040,"date":"2026-04-29T14:13:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557040\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:13:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T14:13:13","slug":"scottish-parliament-election-2026-the-six-larger-parties-hit-the-campaign-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/557040\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottish Parliament election 2026: The six larger parties hit the campaign trail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/core\/website\/assets\/static\/news\/incident-types\/light-mode\/analysis.77b314ef10.svg\" alt=\"Analysis\" height=\"2.5rem\" width=\"9.8125rem\" draggable=\"false\" class=\"ssrcss-h608ny-ContributorImageComponent e2hr5uu0\"\/>Taxing questions put to the electorate in Dumfriespublished at 14:46 BST<\/p>\n<p>14:46 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8005f13d-1a56-4158-886c-bc61d9ee66a5.png.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Glenn Campbell<br \/>BBC Scotland Political Editor<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The tax clash on the STV leaders\u2019 debate reveals one of<br \/>\nthe big dividing lines in this election &#8211; where the parties stand on using<br \/>\nHolyrood\u2019s income tax powers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">At the moment, while a majority (55%) of earners pay a<br \/>\nlittle bit less than they would in England, the rest (45%) are expected to pay<br \/>\nmore \u2014 increasingly so as their income rises.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">In Dumfries, we asked voters if they thought this<br \/>\nprinciple was fair.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Thomas spoke to us in Dumfries\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8555b70c-4e6b-486b-ac96-8e6b80d4253c.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"5712\" height=\"3213\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Thomas says &#8220;the more you put in, the less you get out&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Thomas, who is in the early stages of his career, said that he felt that \u201cthe more you put in, the less you get out\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">He also argued that higher tax on higher earnings could be a disincentive to those with ambition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cI feel like it\u2019s unfair especially as you work your way up. Makes you feel like \u2018what\u2019s the point?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Amy  says we must look after society as a whole\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dcb530dd-cdfa-457f-ad29-56d70f137b3c.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"5712\" height=\"3213\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Image caption, <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Amy  says we must look after society as a whole<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">By contrast, Amy who is a student receiving free university tuition that\u2019s not available in other parts of the UK said \u201cI think that we should look after society as a whole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cI also think that by paying a little bit more we are getting more up here in Scotland so I would like to see that continue\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The bigger income tax take from higher earners in Scotland helps to fund a more generous welfare system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Some politicians think it\u2019s too generous and that cutting it would encourage more people into work. Others think it provides essential support to those on the lowest incomes and helps to reduce poverty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taxing questions put to the electorate in Dumfriespublished at 14:46 BST 14:46 BST Glenn CampbellBBC Scotland Political Editor&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-557040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}