Scotland’s annual tax contributions to the UK have increased by £14.2 billion over the last decade, with income tax, capital gains tax and taxes on productions such as environmental levies driving this increased contribution.
New analysis shows that the Scottish public sector generated an annual revenue of £73.3 billion during the last financial year, a 24 per cent increase versus a decade ago, equating to an increased contribution of £14.2 billion to the UK economy.
As a result, Scotland now accounts for 8 per cent of total UK contributions, far more than the 3.5 per cent contributed by Wales and the 2.1 per cent contributed by Northern Ireland, although the populations in those countries are significantly lower.
Both income tax (+71 per cent) and capital gains tax (+70 per cent) have seen the largest increase of all taxes on income and wealth over the last decade, with corporation tax excluding North Sea Oil also up 17 per cent.
In fact, of all taxes on income and wealth, just public corporation contributions have seen a decline (-30 per cent).
Taxes on productions have also climbed by 35 per cent, with taxes on environmental levies driving this increase, up 368 per cent in the last decade.
Taxes on land and building transactions have increased by 197 per cent, with taxes from EU Emissions Trading Scheme auction receipts seeing the third largest increase at 190 per cent.
Commenting on the figures, Bradley Post, the managing director of RIFT, said: “Scotland’s economic contribution to the UK stretches far beyond North Sea Oil and, in fact, there has been significant increases across many areas of the Scottish economy in the last decade.
“So while the topic of Scottish independence may be a contentious one, there are over fourteen billion reasons why the UK should be happy that Scotland remains a part of it today.”
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