The national non-domestic rate was introduced in 1990 to replace a system of locally varying business rates which had lasted for almost four centuries. Five years after the. 1990 reforms, this report evaluates the operation of the present system and discusses various options for reform.

This report considers the issues involved in using sales taxes as a possible source of local government revenues in the UK.

This book aims to unravel the complexities of pension policy and provide answers or suggest alternative options to the major issues facing policymakers.

The taxation of savings in the UK is in a mess and the IFS Capital Taxes Group, set up in 1987 and chaired by Malcolm Gammie of Linklaters & Paines, makes proposals which would considerably simplify the system. Its two principal proposals, which are outlined in this report, are for an extension of the current PEP and TESSA regimes to all personal savings and the introduction of an allowance for the cost of equity finance.

A report considering how effective means-tested benefits are at reaching the right people. The most comprehensive study of take-up ever undertaken, it gives a detailed breakdown of the results.

An examination of the principles behind the taxation of pensions. The report assesses and costs a number of possible reforms.

A survey of the main issues involved in using equivalence scales to estimate the costs of children for policy purposes: the authors estimate a range of scales for the UK and examine the impact of varying scales on official statistics.