Public finance

Reversing NICs and corporation tax rises would leave debt on an unsustainable path

Report

In the absence of official scrutiny from the OBR, we set out how much red ink might be added to the fiscal forecasts.

21 September 2022

Transparency is key to maintaining trust in government. Let’s not cap it

Comment

Paul Johnson in the Times on the importance of transparency in government.

12 September 2022

How could a falling population affect the Scottish Government’s funding?

Comment

A falling population could be a boon for the Scottish Government’s finances within the UK.

2 September 2022

Student finance

Collection

Read all our work on the student loans system here.

31 August 2022

Scotland’s underlying public finances are improving as oil and gas revenues rise – but long-term challenges remain

Comment

Scotland’s implicit budget deficit is falling as oil and gas revenues rise but this wouldn’t prevent hard choices for an independent Scotland.

24 August 2022

The outlook for the public finances under the Bank of England’s August 2022 forecast

Report

This report sets out an illustrative scenario for how the current path of inflation and growth might affect government revenues and spending.

18 August 2022

Can we all eat cake? Political leaders should explain that is pure fantasy

Comment

Paul Johnson in the Times on the dangers of 'cakeism'.

15 August 2022

The inflation squeeze on public services

Comment

Higher inflation squeezes public service budgets and makes government spending plans less generous than originally intended. How much less generous?

10 August 2022

Conservative candidates’ tax plans are increasingly similar, though still differ in scale and timing

Comment

The key point that neither candidate seems willing to spell out is that, ultimately, lower taxes mean lower spending.

1 August 2022

Rishi Sunak’s proposal to temporarily remove VAT on energy bills

Comment

Rishi Sunak has said that he would remove the 5% VAT charged on household energy bills for 12 months if the energy price cap rises above £3,000.

27 July 2022

Tax and spending policies of Conservative leadership contenders

Comment

On 5 September we will know which of the two is the next Conservative Party leader - and therefore Prime Minister - so their visions for tax and spending matter.

21 July 2022

The government’s debt interest bill in June hugely increased by high inflation and seasonal effects

Comment

Today's data release confirmed very high government debt payments in June, driven by high inflation and usual seasonal effects.

21 July 2022

An initial response to the public sector pay announcement

Comment

The government has announced pay rises for public sector workers covered by independent pay review bodies.

20 July 2022

What should public sector pay policy be trying to achieve?

Comment

What is the objective of public sector pay policy? What is it, and what should it be, trying to achieve?

18 July 2022

The future of public sector pensions

Podcast

We sit down with one of the architects behind the current public pensions system and discuss whether it is sustainable or needs further reform.

13 July 2022

Future of the welfare state

Presentation

This talk was given by Paul Johnson at Tony Blair Institute for Global Change's Future of Britain conference.

1 July 2022

How should the government tax electric cars?

Podcast

As more people move away from fossil fuel vehicles, the government stands to lose billions of pounds in tax revenue - what should it do about this?

19 May 2022

The future of student loans

Podcast

In this episode, we look at the government's student loan reforms and think about how students, taxpayers and universities will be affected.

4 May 2022

IFS response to UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Comment

It is disappointing that the UK government has ‘taken back control’ only to stick to an arbitrary, poorly designed, out-of-date funding allocation mechanism.

13 April 2022