Distributional effects

Do the poorest really pay the most in tax?

Comment

The Liberal Democrats have, once again, claimed that the poor pay more of their income in tax than the rich, and that this gap has got larger under Labour. But, by ignoring the fact that the poor get most of this income from the state in benefit and tax credit payments, and by overstating the extent to which indirect taxes are paid by the poor, this comparison is meaningless at best and misleading at worst.

12 April 2010

Tax and benefit reforms under Labour

Report

This Election Briefing Note describes the main tax and benefit reforms since 1997, and shows how they have affected total government revenues.

7 April 2010

Personal tax and benefit changes

Presentation

This presentation was given at the IFS post-Budget briefing on 25th March 2010.

25 March 2010

Options for fiscal tightening: tax increases and benefit cuts

Presentation

This presentation was given at the launch of the 2010 Green Budget.

3 February 2010

Analysis of tax and benefit changes affecting families with children

Report

This note compares three policies that have been recently suggested which would change the way that families with children are treated by the tax and benefit system.

11 January 2010

Taxation in the UK

Presentation

This public economics lecture was delivered at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in November 2009.

11 November 2009

Tax credit reform: impact and optimality

Presentation

Policy Lecture at the Singapore Treasury

1 November 2009

Abolishing the tax-free threshold in Australia: simulating alternative reforms

Journal article

This paper examines the role of the tax-free income tax threshold in a complex tax and transfer system consisting of a range of taxes and benefits, each with its own taper rates and thresholds.

20 October 2009