NICOLA Sturgeon could not have been clearer as launched the annual report on the state of Scotland's finances during a visit to Heriot Watt University. The SNP, she said, will press for devo max if it emerges from the General Election in a position to influence the next UK government.
The price of her support, in other words, could be a transfer of tax powers so extensive its opponents call it "independence by the back door".
It was a confident declaration given the contents of the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland report (GERS) the First Minister was unveiling.
Under devo max, or full fiscal autonomy, the Scottish Government would be responsible for almost all public spending in Scotland - and for raising the taxes to pay for it.
The UK Government would remain in charge of defence, foreign affairs and macroeconomic decisions affecting the currency. Holyrood would pay an annual fee for those functions plus a share of UK debt interest payments.
The figures in GERS give the clearest indication of how Scotland's finances would add up under such a set-up.
In the last financial year, 2013/14, they would not have added up well at all.
Total government spending in and for the benefit of Scotland, by both the UK and Scottish governments, amounted to £66.4billion. Total taxes raised in Scotland, including the country's geographical share of oil revenues, came to £54billion, leaving a shortfall of £12.4billion.
Like the UK - which ran a £97billion deficit last year - a fiscally autonomous Scottish government would have to borrow to plug the gap in its finances.
Going forward Ms Sturgeon argues devo max would equip the Scottish Government with more of the powers it needed to grow the economy, the best way of reducing the deficit.
But Scotland faces a deeper hole in its finances compared with the UK and, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies reminded us yesterday, growing the economy is easier said than done.
The think tank believes a devo max Scotland would face substantial tax rises or spending cuts in the next few years - unless the price of oil soared or the Scottish government really could find a way to supercharge the economy.
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