Research and analysis

In a separate article (Forsyth and Kay, Fiscal Studies, No.3), we have described the gains to the British economy from the exploitation of North Sea oil reserves.

In the course of his discussion of benefit indexation during the 1980 Budget speech, the Chancellor of the Exchequer remarked that:

This paper argues that the UK financial year (FY) should be moved from April-April to coincide with the calendar year (CY).

The growth of North Sea oil revenues is the most important fiscal development in the British economy in teh 1980s.

A distinctive freature of the British tax system is the very wide range of incomes which is subject to tax at the basic rate.

In the earlier article (Kay and Morris, 1979), we examined the effects of the 1979 budget on distribution and incentives by looking at the tax system as a whole in terms of a 'tax credit' and a marginal tax rate.

The direct tax structure of the UK has grown by continuous accretion since its principal elements were set out by Addington in 1803.

The wage determination process in Australia operates substantially under the guidelines set down by the Australian Arbitration and Conciliation Commission.

It has always been difficult to justify the existence of a separate tax on corporations in a fiscal system based ultimately on individual ability to pay and many, indeed, have argued that the corporation tax should, in principle, be abrogated.

While much recent attention has been paid to the problems involved in estimating the degree of welath inequality in Britain, and policies to reduce it have been the subject of widespread discussion, there is a relative paucity of knowledge about the reasons for its existence and persistence.

The title I have chosen for tonight covers an important group of questions, which have been much in the forefront of discussion in recent years.

The case which Mr Richardson makes for the general adoption of some effective form of inflation accounting for business purposes is unanswerable.

With the passing of the Finance Act of 1979 the new system of Petroleum Revenue Tax (PRT) became law.

The main purpose of CTT is the equitable one of continuing the slow process of reducing the inequality of wealth.

Since coming to office the present government has been involved in implementing its economic philosophy, which sees the future growth and development of the UK economy dependent upon the elimination of inflation, the re-establishment of economic incentives, the return of many activities to the market place and a reduction in the public sector's involvement in economic and social affairs.

Some recent attention has been given to the so called 'Laffer Curve'.

Professor Townsend's monumental study of poverty in the United Kingdom has been long awaited. It is based on a specially commissioned household survey and the results are meticulously documented.

Nearly all food prices in Europe are now determined, not by market forces, but by the operation of the Common Agricultural Policy.

There were two principal elements to the June 1979 budget. One was the very substantial reductions which were made in the higher rates of income tax.

This is that, when inflation reaches anything like 10 percent p.a., it becomes essential to find ways of measuring companies' real profits and that it is these 'real' profits (however defined) which should form the basis of such matters as pricing policy, dividend distributions, and taxation.