This note looks at the kind of information people have on saving and how this effects their decisions to invest in the future. We also ask what policies could be used to provide people with clear information which they trust.

This document provides an overview of the UK tax system, describing how each of the main taxes works and setting their current state in a historical context.

In this briefing note we add to the current debate on UK annuity markets by providing some simple descriptive analysis from household survey data. In particular, using data from recent waves of the Family Resources Survey, we consider how the current population of (elderly) annuitants differs from the elderly population at large, and describe differences in the characteristics of the group holding voluntary, as opposed to mandatory annuity policies.

Since the completion of the Single Market in 1992 it has become easier for people in the UK to take advantage of lower priced goods across the border. Alcohol is one good where there has been particular concern about the level of cross-border shopping because of differences in tax rates between the UK and France. If the Chancellor wants to reduce the amount of cross-border shopping by cutting duty, the important policy question is whether overall these two effects would have a positive or negative effect on revenue.

This discussion paper describes the structure of Family Credit and the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC). It looks at the characteristics of likely recipients and discusses how the WFTC will affect work incentives for different types of households. The paper then goes on to discuss a series of issues that deserve attention and discussion in the context of the UK reform, and perhaps more generally in the consideration of policies of this type.

In the 1999 Pre-Budget Report the Chancellor announced measuers to encourage charitable giving through tax relief on donations. These are explained in this Briefing Note.

The government published its first plans for stakeholder pensions in December 1998. Since then more flesh has been put on the bones with the publication of six disussion papers each focusing on a different aspects of stakeholder pensions -the minimum standards, the employer access requirement, the clearing arrangements, regulation, advice and information, governance and the tax regime. This note summarises - and critically appraises - the government's proposals