Our response to the Scottish Budget, 19 December 2023
This budget shows that tinkering around the edges is no longer enough. We need structural reform at all levels of government to prioritise a Wellbeing Economy that delivers good lives for all on a healthy planet.
Growing our economy simply for the sake of expanding the tax base will not help us to solve our challenges. The wrong kind of growth creates more harm than good, leading to billions of pounds in avoidable expenditures that patch up the damage.
We have the resources, skills and passion in Scotland to ensure good lives for all on a healthy planet. We need to redesign our economy to ensure that this wealth is used for the right ends.
This requires investment into the social and environmental infrastructure that underpin every part of our wellbeing. It requires deep reforms to our tax system to make sure that wealth is shared fairly, reforming Council Tax rather than freezing it, and ensuring that everyone can live with dignity.
It is essential that government budgets are transparent, joined-up and aligned with the priorities of people and planet. The Scottish Government needs to put forward a strong Wellbeing & Sustainable Development Bill that delivers for the people of Scotland. This Bill provides us with an opportunity to build policy and budget decisions around priorities set through participatory design, and to provide the coherence and accountability that Scotland deserves.