Should Scotland become an Independent Country

My apologies to my opponent for not responding on time. Now addressing the North Sea Oil, now a point that I would like to point out is the loss of revenue over the past decade has one big overwhelming factor, the war in the middle east, fighting over oil reserves and establishing relationships with places like Qatar where the oil reserves are plentiful will surely drive down the cost here in Scotland as we would have to compete with ridiculous prices, this however does not confirm that North Sea Oil is running out. Also Con's argument stating that the reserves would expire in 30 years or so isn't even mentioned within his evidence. Now an interesting point I would like to highlight is the fact that his own evidence states, "an independent Scotland would currently gain roughly as much in taxes as it would lose in subsidies" this to me counteracts the whole argument that Scotland needs the Union, and how much of this revenue stays in Scotland? Hardly any if the HMRC are involved. http://media.economist.com... This also shows that Scotland isn't as bad as other regions of the UK. Now to establish my point on HMRC. This parasite bleeds our country dry, now Con may argue that this provides public funding et cetera however bearing in mind that our Duty Tax is around [1]60% (Please note that this statistic is old and is probably much higher) this has a huge impact on industry overheads, we also have corporate tax, income tax, PAYE, VAT Tax, to be honest from a global business point of view it is financial suicide to even set up a business in the UK, with the recent exceptions of [2]Vodafone, Amazon, Starbucks and Google, all companies that can afford to beat the the HMRC with their legal teams. Also recently the HMRC managed to destroy a whole company despite failing twice prosecuting other companies of using EBTs (Employee Benefit Trusts), Rangers Football Club which as a result was liquidated after 140 years in business. This case was a complete waste of taxpayers money in which they are still appealing despite LOSING this tax case. Scotland would be far better off without this furnace of tax money. Now if Scotland was an independent country it could become a tax haven if its government decided to abolish most of these ridiculous taxes, if we look at for example Starbucks, if they had lost they're case they would have withdrawn all of its stores, further impairing the British economy. Creating a haven free of tax, we would be flooded with businesses wanting to set up shop, bear in mind if things are cheaper in Scotland, English and Welsh will come to Scotland to save money. Another point my opponent addressed is that relying on one industry is harmful. I agree however I never said that Scotland would rely on one industry, we have many other trades and changing our way of taxing can tip the commercial scales in our favour as well as relying on our expensive whiskeys and world known fisheries and golf courses, as well as Deer Stalking [3] this alone delivers over "70 million a year for Scotland alone ("105 million a year for UK). This is a simple yet effect production of money as Scotland is overrun with deer affecting our wildlife, basically killing two birds with one stone. These points are just illustrating that Scotland is still a prosperous country without its oil. Also my opponent states their point, "There are also hidden liabilities in the North Sea. Decommissioning the installations there, most of which are in Scottish waters, will cost more than "30 billion by 2040, predicts Oil & Gas UK, a trade body. Westminster is currently on the hook for more than half that sum in tax relief, a bill it would happily hand over to Holyrood." This is merely speculation made by a government body, a government which DOES NOT want to lose its links to the North Sea Gas and Oil, really how reliable does this statistic seem? Now in regards to the Bank of England I agree London would have the upper hand here but this is a mere suggestion stated by the SNP, now we can relate to alternatives such as joining the Euro or creating our own currency, after all we do have Bank of Scotland currency that isn't accepted widely in England, so we're half way their in making our own currency. In regards to the immigration policy within the EU stating that my "Model involves staying in the EU" I actually stated, "4. Scotland still have the opportunity to remain in the European Union and keep the Sterling currency." This means we still have the option should we want or completely cut off all ties with the EU and its dying economy, thus forcing out anyone who chooses to reside here just for our welfare and charitable accommodation. 1]http://www.petrolprices.com... [2]http://metro.co.uk... [3]http://www.bbc.co.uk...