Rise of 11% in amount collected by Revenue Scotland

Updated

The revenue collected by Scotland’s tax authority rose by 11% in the past year, a new report shows.

Revenue Scotland raised £707 million over that period through the two devolved taxes it collects – Land and Buildings Transaction (LBTT) and the Scottish Landfill Tax – up by £74 million (11.7%).

The organisation’s annual report shows LBTT rose by 15.2% to £557 million between 2017/18 and the previous financial year, around £50 million more than budget estimate.

The landfill tax take fell by 0.7% to £147 million in the same period, down more than £1 million on the Budget Act estimate.

Revenue Scotland chairman, Dr Keith Nicholson, said: “We have seen a year-on-year increase in tax revenue to support public services and this increased by £74m, or 11.7%, in 2017-18 compared to the previous year.

“The amount transferred to the Scottish Consolidated Fund since Revenue Scotland operations began reached £1.8bn by 31 March 2018, underlining the importance of devolved tax to support Scotland’s public finances.”

He added: “In addition, Revenue Scotland has seen an increase in revenue from direct tax compliance of more than £400,000 in the reporting period compared to 2016-17.”

This had risen from from £1.9 million in 2016-17 to £2.4 million in 2017-18.

Minister for Public Finances Kate Forbes said: “The increase in revenue reported by Revenue Scotland is welcome news and underlines the importance of the fully devolved taxes to Scotland’s economy and our public services.

“These figures show that our progressive approach to taxation is working, with revenues from the fully devolved taxes rising by £74 million to £707m in 2017-18 and LBTT revenues £50m higher than forecast.”

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