| answer text |
<p>The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has set out the basis for
its forecasts of oil and gas tax revenues in the Fiscal Sustainability Report. The
forecast shows that these tax receipts, as a share of GDP, are set to decline by 84
per cent over the forecast period. The government has not made a separate assessment
of these forecasts.</p><p> </p><p>The OBR has not published an assessment of what
the fiscal position of a separate Scotland would be. However, other independent experts
have estimated that in 2016-17, a separate Scotland would have a deficit (per person)
of more than twice that of the UK.</p><p> </p><p>HM Treasury has estimated that each
person in Scotland is £1,400 a year better off in the UK. That’s equivalent to around
two thirds of the total NHS budget in Scotland, or almost as much as Scotland’s entire
education budget.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>The OBR’s new, lower, oil and gas tax receipts
forecast only make a separate Scotland’s fiscal position tougher. In the UK, as part
of a larger country, we can pool resources and share risks. This means that public
spending in Scotland can remain secure and stable, even as revenues from oil and gas
are volatile.</p>
|
|
