The Scottish Fiscal Commission ( gd, Coimisean Fiosgail na h-Alba) is a non-ministerial office. It was established by the
Scottish Parliament to provide independent forecasts of
taxes
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
and
social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
expenditure, and
GDP
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
forecasts, to help inform the government's
budget and its scrutiny by parliament.
It was formally created in June 2014, but moved to become a statutory body following the Scottish Fiscal Commission Act 2016.
The commission is currently headed by Professor Graeme Roy.
Remit
The Scottish Fiscal Commission was established as a non-ministerial office on April 1, 2017, and is structurally and operationally independent of the Scottish Government. Its Commissioners are directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It publishes two sets of five-year forecasts a year in line with the Scottish budget process. It also publishes evaluations of its forecasts and working papers on related subjects. Its five-year forecasts cover Scotland's:
*
Income Tax
An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
*
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax
Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) is a property tax in Scotland. It replaced the Stamp Duty Land Tax from 1 April 2015.
LBTT is a tax applied to residential and commercial land and buildings transactions (including commercial purchases ...
*
Non-Domestic Rates
* Scottish
Landfill Tax
* Revenue from assigned
VAT
*Devolved social security expenditure
*Onshore
Gross Domestic Product
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is oft ...
It also assesses the reasonableness of Scottish Ministers' borrowing projections
Members
The Scottish Fiscal Commission currently comprises three members, who are nominated for appointment by the
Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Economy.
The nominations are considered by the Finance Committee of the
Scottish Parliament, which then reports on the nominations to the Parliament as a whole.
Parliament then decides whether or not to approve the nominations. The current members of the Scottish Fiscal Commission are:
* Professor Graeme Roy
*Professor Frances Breedon
*Professor David Ulph
*Dr Domenico Lombardi
See also
*
Taxation in Scotland
Taxation in Scotland today involves payments that are required to be made to three different levels of government: to the UK government, to the Scottish Government and to local government. Currently 32.4% of taxation collected in Scotland is in th ...
References
External links
*
Scottish Fiscal Commission - What We Do This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v2.0 © Crown copyright.
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Economy of Scotland
Non-ministerial departments of the Scottish Government
2014 establishments in Scotland
Taxation in Scotland
Government agencies established in 2014
Economic forecasting
Statistical forecasting
Forecasting organizations