Big businesses such as online retail giant Amazon should be targeted with a windfall tax to help the economy recover from coronavirus, Scotland’s finance secretary claimed.
Kate Forbes said she’s open to the idea as MSPs probed the financial crisis caused by the global pandemic.
“There are some very large organisations that have benefited significantly from the pandemic and I think we should be looking to them in order to fund some of our needs going forward,” she said.
Forbes was responding to a direct question from SNP MSP George Adam who suggested online shopping companies such as Amazon may be a prime target for tax.
The exchange came hours after official figures revealed a record drop in the UK’s economic output. The measure, known as GDP, fell 20.4% in April.
Forbes said the Scottish Government previously supported a digital services tax,proposed during the UK budget in 2018 and brought in on April 1 this year. It levied two per cent from search engines, social media firms and online marketplaces.
Forbes repeated calls for more powers to be given to the Scottish Government, warning she will otherwise have “one hand tied behind my back” as the economy emerges from the pandemic.
The Scottish Government has said there is a £500 million hole between the extra cost of the Covid-19 pandemic and the funding given to Scotland from Westminster. The Finance Secretary said the UK Government should either provide the funding to fill the gap or allow the Scottish Government to borrow money to supplement the budget.
Forbes told Holyrood’s finance committee: “Because this is a fixed budget, because – by law – I cannot overspend, if this year requires extraordinary spending in order to save lives and save the economy, then I will be hamstrung or at least I’ll be doing it with one hand tied behind my back.
“Whereas the UK Government is able to borrow more to meet the needs, we cannot and therefore if there’s a pressing need in one part of the budget it will need to be taken from elsewhere.”
Forbes warned that if she is forced to move funding around within the budget, it would “lead to austerity”.
