News & Events

News & Events

  • The key numbers in Scottish Budget’s income tax choices

    Article by our chair Professor Graeme Roy, first published in the Herald on 8 January 2024 about income tax in Scotland and its impact upon the economy and public finances.

  • Scottish Budget under pressure despite higher tax revenues

    19 December 2023 The Scottish Fiscal Commission today said that the Scottish Government’s budget next year is set to increase by £1.3 billion from the latest figure for 2023-24. This is a rise of 2.6 per cent in cash terms or 0.9 percent after accounting for inflation. Most of this increase in funding comes from…

  • Shona Robison now has more pieces of the budget puzzle

    Article by our chair Professor Graeme Roy, first published in The Times on 22 November 2023. Although many of the Chancellor’s announcements apply across the entire UK, his ‘Autumn Statement for Growth’ also sets the scene for the Scottish Budget in less than four weeks’ time. The Deputy First Minister will be thinking about how…

  • Scots population shifts and the future of public services

    Article by our chair Professor Graeme Roy, first published in the Herald on 9 October 2023.

  • Significant progress on the economy is still required

    Article by our chair Professor Graeme Roy, first published in The Herald on 11 September 2023.

  • Scottish Fiscal Commission publishes latest Forecast Evaluation Report

    An evaluation of our December 2021 economy, devolved taxes and social security forecasts which were used to set the 2022-23 Scottish Budget.

  • Despite economic positivity inflation remains too high

    Article by our Chair Professor Graeme Roy, first published in The Herald on 12 June 2023 Last month, at the Scottish Fiscal Commission, we published our latest forecasts covering the Scottish economy, devolved tax revenues and social security spending. While the outlook is largely unchanged since our last forecasts in December, we now have some…

  • Economic outlook improves slightly but living standards still falling

    The Scottish Fiscal Commission today said that the five-year funding outlook for the Scottish Government has remained broadly unchanged since its forecasts in December last year. The Commission now forecasts that the economy will remain largely flat this year rather than fall into the shallow recession predicted in December. Despite this marginal improvement in the…

  • Scotland not alone but fiscal sustainability questions cannot be ignored

    Article by our Chair Professor Graeme Roy, first published in The Herald on 10 April 2023 As trailed in one of my earlier articles, the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) has just published Scotland’s first Fiscal Sustainability Report. It highlights how, with rising costs of healthcare coupled with an increase in the average age of our…

  • Fiscal Sustainability Report shows tough decisions for Scottish Government

    22 March 2023 The Scottish Fiscal Commission today said that the Scottish Government will face long-term challenges in funding the delivery of public services. Their Fiscal Sustainability Report shows that over the next 50 years spending on public services will increase because of pressures from rising costs of delivery and an ageing population. Spending on…