Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland

"GERS" redirects here. For other uses, see Gers (disambiguation).

Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) is an annual report published by the Scottish Government. Its aim is to increase public understanding of fiscal policy in Scotland, especially fiscal transfers to and from the UK Exchequer.[1] The report was first established in the early 1990s by the Conservative UK Government.[2] At that time Scotland received significantly more in public spending than it contributed in taxes, mainly because revenue from North Sea Oil had declined from £12bn in 1984/85 to less than £1bn in 1991/92.[2] Conservative politicians therefore wanted to quantify how generous the UK Government was towards Scotland.[2] Oil revenues subsequently increased, however, which led to Scottish National Party members of the Scottish Government citing the GERS figures for the opposite reason.[2] Much of the work is based on estimates, as significant amounts of public spending (e.g. defence or foreign affairs) are not easily identifiable by nation or region.[2] Tax revenues are also estimated, as British tax returns do not require individuals or companies to state where within the UK that income was earned.[2] Only items like stamp duty or council tax, which are based on physical property, can be accurately allocated.[2]

The most recent figures, for 2012/13, showed Scotland to be in a larger than expected deficit, due to a decline in North Sea Oil revenues from £11.25bn in 2011/12 to £6.6bn in 2012/13.[2] Overall, the report estimated that Scotland had produced around 9.1% of UK taxation revenue during this period, while receiving approximately 9.3% of UK public spending. [3]

References

  1. ↑ "Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland 2010-2011". Scottish Government. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Fraser, Douglas (12 March 2014). "Scottish independence: balancing the books". BBC News. BBC. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  3. ↑ GERS 2012-13 report, accessed 5 February 2015

See also

External links

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