This report addresses whether current UK methods of dealing with avoidance are adequate and satisfactory and what, if any, other measures might be taken. Should current judicial anti-avoidance doctrines be allowed to develop or should Parliament take the initiative with a general anti-avoidance rule?

The European Commission has proposed a fundamental reform of VAT in member states, aimed at establishing a durable, or ӤefinitiveԬ VAT regime, compatible with the requirements of the increasingly integrated European single market. Contrary to the expectations of many commentators, the proposals for the definitive regime have not simply revived the Commission's 1987 proposals for the post-1992 VAT regime. Instead, there are some striking new proposals ֠including a single VAT ӤomicileԠfor each business engaged in Europe-wide trade. This commentary describes the rationale of the Commission's new proposals, and compares it with the current ӴransitionalԠregime and other available alternatives.

This commentary discusses the background to the policy, presents the economic arguments for and against the levy, and examines some of the issues about how the levy might actually operate in practice.

In this report we describe the charitable giving behaviour of UK households over the last two decades.

The Green Budget outlines the macroeconomic background, assesses the fiscal stance, and then considers a wide range of tax and spending issues that will be on the Chancellor's pre-budget agenda.

Recommendations for the way Parliament handles Tax Simplification Bills are made in this report by a working party of the Tax Law Review Committee.

The main conclusions of this report are that tax legislation should be written in plain English, that the Government should publish explanatory memoranda with all Finance Bills, that the project already announced by the Government, to rewrite existing tax legislation in plain English should go ahead as long as it produces worthwhile improvements in understanding, and that in the longer term, primary tax legislation should be drafted in terms of general principles.

In this report the Tax Law Review Committee advocates a number of proposals for the thorough overhaul of the tax appeals system. The UK does not have a single system of tax appeals but a number of systems, the details of which differ according to the tax and there is a maze of provisions that can baffle taxpayers and practitioners alike which can affect access to the system and the cost of tax appeals.

The Green Budget looks at the Chancellor's options for the Budget.

Devolution and regional government are once again at the centre of policy debate in Britain. This reports considers the economic issues in designing a system of regional government, and its fiscal implications for the residents of the regions of Britain.