Stuart Adam

Scottish Labour set out a vision for big expansion of the welfare state - with no sense of how much this would eventually cost or how it would be paid for

The Scottish Conservatives offer extra spending on the NHS and a range of targeted measures – but an ambition to cut income tax looks unlikely to be realised without cuts to at least some services.

The SNP’s manifesto offers big gains to a number of targeted groups in Scotland - but would involve difficult trade-offs in a tight budgetary environment.

Are there any common themes in how the current Scottish Government has used these powers? Who are the winners and losers from the reforms it has under

IFS researchers presented their initial analysis of the Chancellor's announcements on the public finances, spending on public services, and the tax and the benefit system on Thursday 4 March at an online briefing.

The tax system discourages employment, investment and risk-taking. It needs reform, say Stuart Adam and Helen Miller.

At this event we discussed findings from a new report, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, which sets out the problems with the current tax treatment of business owners’ incomes and investment and discusses how the government could take practical steps towards fixing them.

At this online debate, an expert panel reflected on what the future holds for capital gains tax. Could CGT be a post-covid cash cow for the Treasury or would higher rates and smaller reliefs lead to lower investment and less revenue?

At this joint IFS/CIOT online debate, a panel of David Gauke, Chris Leslie, Stuart Adam and Jane McCormick looked back at the changes in taxation over the 2010s.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) covers 80% of employees’ usual salaries, up to a cap of £2,500 a month, while they are furloughed. From August it will also provide support for employees who return from furlough but work reduced hours. This Briefing Note considers the implications of that change and how it might work.

"There aren’t many upsides to the current situation", write Stuart Adam and Helen Miller. "Using it as an opportunity to fix some bits of our tax system could be a silver lining."