In wide-ranging interview, Mr Swinney attacked both the Conservatives and Labour for a “conspiracy of silence” over the crisis in public finances.
He repeated his claim – denied by Labour – that it would introduce £18bn of cuts by signing up to the same fiscal rules as the Tories.
Mr Swinney has called for Scotland’s higher taxation rates for higher earners to be emulated across the UK to finance more public spending.
Currently people in Scotland earning below £28,850 pay slightly less tax than the rest of the UK but above that figure they pay increasingly more.
The SNP leader said more tax powers should be devolved to Holyrood, including the ability to set the VAT rate, currently at 20%, but he declined to be “boxed in” by saying how his government might use that power.
He said he took responsibility for services like the NHS and education which are devolved to the Scottish Parliament, but he said it was also his duty to explain the financial constraints his government was operating under.
He said: “I don’t have 100% control over the money that’s raised in Scotland.
“I’ve got control over part of it – I take responsibility for that and I explain what we do with that. That’s why we’ve increased the tax on higher earners.
“But there’s a huge wad of the resources that come to us through the block grant that I do not control and I think it’s only fair that I give the public an explanation that the UK political parties have signed up to an approach that will cut our public spending.”
