After the report of the Smith Commission it looks like Scotland is set to get new powers over taxation and welfare but how does it compare to the similarly nationalist Catalonia?

Scotland is set to get powers over income tax and welfare, after the cross-party approved Smith commission released its recommendations.

The full list of new key powers is listed here but will it be enough to put-to-bed the issue of independence for Scotland?

One obvious comparative is the autonomous community of Catalonia in Spain, where, despite an increase in devolved powers over the years, there is significant demand for a referendum similar to the Scottish one.

Taxation

The big news from the commission is that Scotland is set to be handed the power to set the rate of income tax. However, Westminster will still control certain elements of it including the personal allowance (the amount earned before tax) and what is defined as ‘income’.

Holyrood is also going to get control of air passenger duty (for those flying from Scottish airports) and take in half of VAT.

The Scottish National Party are not particularly happy with the settlement. As Nicola Sturgeon pointed out, the vast majority of taxation in Scotland (national insurance contributions and corporation tax being the biggest elements) will still be reserved by Westminster.

Catalonia by contrast has a taxation regime similar to most of the autonomous regions in Spain. The central government has a set tax rate which is topped up by an additional one that the regions have power over - a two-tier income tax effectively.

Like the Scottish government, the Catalan one can also manage tax on a few other services such as gambling and water.

Roughly 50% of the amount raised in taxes goes directly to the Catalan government while 50% goes back to the central government, who have no obligation to spend that money on the region.

This differs from the UK’s Barnett formula, which is calculated partly by population and partly on which powers are devolved.

Spending

About £3bn of welfare powers will be under the control of the Scottish government in Holyrood if these proposals are approved. The package includes the housing elements of universal credit, disability living allowance, attendance allowance, carers allowance, winter fuel allowance and the personal independence payment.

Given that the state pension, the largest single element of welfare spending in the UK, was such a feature of the no vote’s campaigning, it has, unsurprisingly, not been devolved.

Despite this being a big change to the current arrangement, it is much less power over spending than in Catalonia. Like the Scottish government, the Spanish region has control over justice, policing, health and education. However, it also looks after the vast majority of benefit spending within the territory.

Catalonia, along with the majority of Spanish regions, has far more powers devolved to it that Scotland does. Despite this, there have still been concerns that it is contributing a lot more to Spain than it is getting out.

The Catalan government estimate that they get somewhere between €11 to €15bn less from the central Spanish authority than they put in, while Madrid claims it is €8.5bn.



Pro-independence advocates would argue that this is the cause of the high tax rates in Catalonia, which are some of the highest in Europe let alone Spain.

The refusal for new income tax powers in 2012 led to previously centrist leader Artur Mas calling new elections with himself on a pro-independence referendum ballot.



A further source of annoyance for campaigners is the Basque County, an autonomous region with control over most of the main taxes (excluding VAT) and greater control over what is sent to the central government.

The political climates in Scotland and Catalonia are completely different. However, the increasing calls for an independence vote in Catalonia is a message that even in a region that has been devolved far more powers than Scotland has received, the call for separatism remains just as strong - if not stronger.



This article was amended on 5 December to clarify the Barnett formula and that the Smith commission was proposing Scotland took the first 10 percentage points of VAT raised in the country.