Quarterly SLfT Statistics
Commentary
£33.0 million in Scottish Landfill Tax (SLfT) was declared payable for the latest quarter, July to September 2021.
Total SLfT declared due, and tonnes of taxable waste reported, have gradually declined year on year since SLfT was introduced in 2015. Revenue has decreased slightly slower than the tonnage of taxable waste predominantly because the standard rate of tax has increased by 2-3 per cent each year. This decline became steeper from the third quarter of 2018-19 (October to December 2018) onwards, before flattening off and, in recent quarters, increasing slightly.
SLfT declared due for the most recent quarter, July to September 2021, was slightly higher than the same quarter of 2020 and 2019 and the highest quarter since revenues began to decline more steeply from Q2 in 2018-19.
Typically, more taxable waste is declared for April to September each year than for October to March. 2020 broke this pattern: April to June 2020 saw unusually low taxable disposals (40 per cent less SLfT declared due than the same quarter of the previous year), during the first UK-wide lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar patterns were seen for other parts of the UK. From July to December 2020, SLfT declared due returned to a slightly higher level than the same two quarters of the previous year. It is difficult to separate out the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SLfT from the underlying trend, but the large drop in revenue in Q1 2020-21, and subsequent recovery in later quarters, is likely to have been strongly affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
26 operators provided returns for the latest quarter, covering 46 sites.
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