Taxes on wealth and spending

As part of this year’s Festival of Social Science, IFS delivered a public economic talk on "Why are pensions important?" aimed at A-level and undergraduate students who have an interest in economics or might want to pursue a career in public policy research.

Press reports suggest that the Chancellor is planning an overhaul of the UK’s system of alcohol duties. The current system, which raises about £12 billion a year, is certainly ripe for reform.

Dame Angela Eagle MP and leading experts in tax discussed whether the UK should make more use of taxes on wealth. Even if the overall tax take doesn’t rise, should more be raised from wealth for distributional reasons? And, if we are to tax wealth more, should this be achieved by reforming current taxes, such as those on property, capital gains and inheritances?

At this event, IFS researchers presented the key findings from their latest report on "Why do wealthy parents have wealthy children?", funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.