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Scotland’s Total Revenues
Total revenues in Scotland are collected by the Scottish Government, Local Government and by the UK Government to pay for spending in each government. Learn more about devolution and revenues here.
The annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) report allows us to understand this mix of spending in Scotland. The Fraser of Allander Institute has a helpful guide on understanding the report:
You can also download the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) 2021-22 report and database below:
government-expenditure-revenue-scotland-2021-22.pdf905.3KB
tables-charts.xlsx418.9KB
Use the interactive revenue tracker below to explore the composition of Scotland’s revenue streams over time.
Task: Select ‘Value added tax’ and ‘Income Tax’ on the search panel. Which two time periods saw a big fall in revenue from these taxes? Why did they drop so significantly?
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Scottish Tax Revenue Composition: Over half of the revenues generated in Scotland are accounted for by the top 3 taxes in Scotland. Income Tax, National Insurance, and VAT account for the majority of tax revenues in Scotland, displaying their importance.
The below graph follows Scotland’s total revenue over time. GERS uses 3 different measures for this: the blue line reflects the Non-North Sea Revenues (shown previously), while the yellow and orange lines include offshore revenues from oil and gas production.
The orange line ‘including geographic share of North Sea revenue’ forecasts a scenario in which Scotland’s share of UK offshore revenues is equal to its geographical share of UK oil and gas resources. The yellow line ‘including population share of North Sea revenue’ forecasts a scenario in which Scotland’s share of UK offshore revenue is equal to its UK population share.