The UK's coalition government implemented £64 billion of tax rises and £48 billion of tax cuts during its term of office from 2010 to 2015. This paper assesses the design of the individual reforms and what they imply for the coherence of the tax system as a whole. The reforms included some significant structural changes to the way savings and pensions are taxed, but for the most part reforms involved simply changing rates and thresholds, with little attempt to address the fundamental structural deficiencies of the tax system. All in all, the coalition's changes represent a missed opportunity to improve the tax system, leaving its successor with numerous challenges to address.
Authors
Stuart Adam
Stuart is a Senior Economist working in the Tax sector, and focuses on analysing the design of the tax and benefit system.
Barra Roantree
Barra is a Research Fellow at IFS and Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin.
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