A separate Scotland could require to double income tax – Think Scotland, 23/03/21
Due to the impact of the pandemic, the deficit is likely to reach 25 per cent of GDP this year and remain around 10 per cent until at least the middle of this decade. North Sea Oil revenues will not provide a silver bullet, despite the claims of some nationalists. Scotland ran a fiscal deficit even when oil prices exceeded $100 per barrel, and the oil fields are fast depleting, with those being decommissioned attracting tax relief rather than delivering tax revenues.
But this should not come as a shock. Although Scotland’s deficit is more akin to a southern European country, Scotland’s politicians have long expressed a desire to follow the Scandinavian model for high state spending – including if the country went independent