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Articles by Stuart Adam
Views on the Conservatives’ proposals
Not only are they tying their hands by promising not to increase the rates of income tax or VAT or to increase corporation tax, capital gains tax, stamp duty land tax or any tax on pension saving. Not only are they promising to keep some of the silliest tax reliefs we have, such as business asset disposal relief in capital gains tax and business & agricultural property reliefs in inheritance tax.
General Election 2024: tax in the manifestos
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Offshore disclosures up 146%
Disclosures of untaxed offshore assets under HMRC’s Worldwide Disclosure Facility (WDF) increased by 146% to 5,400 in the year to 5 April 2023, report accounting and business advisers Lubbock Fine. Voluntary disclosure under the WDF generally means more favourable treatment in terms of penalties.
Conservative candidates’ tax plans are increasingly similar, though still differ in scale and timing. -
Rishi Sunak has pledged that, should he become Prime Minister, the basic rate of income tax would fall to 16% by the end of the decade. That would be a 3 percentage point (ppt) cut on top of the 1ppt cut (from 20% to 19%) already planned for 2024-25. That 1ppt cut will cost about £6bn per year; the additional cut to 16% now proposed by Mr Sunak would cost an additional £19bn per year. This is a very substantial tax cut.
IFS response to government cost of living support package -
Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said: “Rishi Sunak has announced a genuinely big package of support for households. On average the poorest households will now be approximately compensated for the rising cost of living this year. The flat rate nature of payments to benefit recipients does mean, though, that the package is less generous to poor families with children than to those without.
Tax and spending policies of Conservative leadership contenders -
We are now down to the final two Conservative Party leadership contenders: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. 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. Below we provide some initial analysis of the plans that have been set out so far.
IFS Green Budget 2021 -
The IFS Green Budget 2021 is produced in association with Citi and with funding from the Nuffield Foundation. It looks at the ongoing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the Chancellor aims to secure a lasting recovery and deliver on the government’s other objectives and priorities. Separate chapters, as well as the full report, are available below. Launch event video Slides from the event are available here.
Tax policies to help achieve net zero carbon emissions -
The UK is legally committed to reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions that arise from UK-based activities to zero by 2050. Achieving that target will require large shifts away from emissions-intensive activity from both consumers and producers. The most striking feature of policy in this area is the sheer number of taxes, levies and subsidies that have been put in place to try to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Pensioner families would provide ten times more of the revenue from an income tax rise than from a NICs rise -
It has been widely reported that the government will announce an increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) to pay for increased funding for health and social care.
The Scottish Conservatives manifesto - an initial response from IFS researchers -
The Scottish Conservatives offer extra spending on the NHS and a range of targeted measures – but an ambition to cut income tax looks unlikely to be realised without cuts to at least some services. The Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto contains a range of pledges that would expand service provision for/and or boost income for a number of groups in Scotland.
SNP Manifesto - An initial response from IFS researchers -
The SNP’s manifesto offers big gains to a number of targeted groups in Scotland - but would involve difficult trade-offs in a tight budgetary environment. The SNP manifesto contains significant pledges that if delivered would significantly expand service provision for and/or boost the take home income of a number of groups in Scotland. This includes a significant expansion of childcare provision, increases in a number of means-tested benefits and council tax exemptions for all 18–21 year-olds.
Tax reforms needed to encourage employment and investment -
The parts of the UK tax system that dictate how different forms of income are taxed are not fit for purpose. Employees’ salaries attract thousands of pounds more in tax each year than the incomes of people who are self-employed or working through their own company. This is unfair and pushes people towards working through their own business rather than as employees. At the same time, the tax system discourages investing in a company and taking risks. But these problems can be solved.
Tax system discourages employment, investment and risk-taking. It needs reform. -
Employees’ salaries currently attract thousands of pounds more in tax each year than the incomes of people who are self-employed or working through their own company. This is unfair and pushes people towards working through their own business rather than as employees. At the same time, the tax system discourages investing in a company and taking risks.
Business rates and land value taxation -
13 Sep 2011 Book Tax by Design is the final report from the Mirrlees Review. We present a picture of coherent tax reform whose aim is to identify the characteristics of a good tax system for any open developed economy, to assess the extent to which the UK tax system conforms to these ideals, and to recommend how it ...
Committees - UK Parliament
At 2.30pm: Oral evidence Inquiry Tax after coronavirus Member at Budget Responsibility Committee Member, Budget Responsibility Committee at Office for Budget Responsibility
Extending the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme to short-time workers -
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) covers 80% of employees’ usual salaries, up to a cap of £2,500 a month, while they are furloughed. From August it will also provide support for employees who return from furlough but work reduced hours. This Briefing Note considers the implications of that change and how it might work.
Covid-19: will tax reform be the silver lining or the missed opportunity?
We are living through an unprecedented economic crisis. The government has responded with an unprecedented package of support. Fiscal measures have run up a price tag of over £100bn in just a few months. Over half of this will be spent directly supporting incomes. Around £30bn is being spent on cancelling business rates bills and providing cash grants for some firms. More will be spent if tax deferrals result in less tax being paid or loans are defaulted on.
Income protection for the self-employed and employees during the coronavirus crisis -
The government has announced a series of reforms intended to protect workers against income losses resulting from the coronavirus. First, there have been several temporary benefit giveaways. The basic allowances in universal credit (UC) and working tax credit have both been increased by £1,000 per year. Maximum entitlements to housing benefit (and the housing element of UC) for private tenants have been increased to the 30th percentile of rents in a local area.
Help is coming for (most of) the self-employed -
Today (26 March 2020) the Chancellor announced new, very generous support for the self-employed. Those who earn the majority of their income from self-employment and who had average profits of no more than £50,000 over the last three years will be eligible for a taxable grant equal to 80% of the average profits they reported across the three years from April 2016 to April 2019, up to a cap of £2,500, if they report that their income has been negatively impacted as a result of coronavirus.
Support for the self-employed during the coronavirus pandemic -
Later today (26 March 2020) the Chancellor is due to announce measures to help the self-employed. So far, the self-employed have seen some increase in the social safety net via increases in the generosity of universal credit (UC) but no equivalent to the new Job Retention Scheme (JRS) that supports employees. This note sets out the context for today’s announcement.
Revaluation and reform: bringing council tax in England into the 21st century -
Council tax matters. It matters to local government as, at over £31 billion a year, it now makes up over half of its funding for non-education expenditure. It matters for households, for whom the bills take up an average of over 3% of their income.
Revaluation and reform of council tax could be part of the ‘levelling up’ agenda, and could help the poor, young and disabled -
Property values in London have risen over six-fold since the mid 1990s, compared to less than three-fold in the North East of England. Values in Hackney are over 9times what they were then, compared to just over 2.5 times in County Durham. But council tax bands and bills, as well as central government top-ups to councils’ revenues, are still based on relative property values in 1991, almost 30 years ago. These bills and funding arrangements are increasingly arbitrary and unfair.
Revaluation and reform of council tax in Wales: impacts on different councils and household types -
Council tax bands in Wales are based on property values in April 2003 – 17 years ago. That is more up to date than in England and Scotland, where they are based on values in April 1991 (almost 30 years ago!).
The best slow cookers to buy for making delicious family meals
Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us Whether you're a busy working couple, cooking for a family or feeding an army, a slow cooker is one of the healthiest, cost effective, and also fuss-free ways of cooking a meal.
Tax in the manifestos
Rarely have voters at a UK general election been offered such starkly different economic policy platforms to choose from. The parties’ tax proposals epitomise this. Conservatives The Conservative manifesto is virtually devoid of proposals for tax changes. That is not necessarily a bad thing: many of us bemoan the constant upheaval that bedevils our tax system. But they may come to regret their guarantee not to increase rates of income tax, NICs or VAT.
Labour’s proposed income tax rises for high-income individuals -
The Labour Party plans to increase income tax for individuals with annual taxable incomes over £80,000. Under the current system, income tax is payable on incomes above the personal allowance of £12,500 a year. The 40% higher rate becomes payable at £50,000, and the 45% additional rate kicks in at £150,000. Labour would introduce a new 45% income tax rate starting at £80,000 a year, and a new 50% rate starting at £125,000, from 2020–21.
A road map for motoring taxation -
Taxes on motoring raise around £40 billion a year for the exchequer (around 5% of government revenue), equivalent to about £750 per adult in the UK. Most of this comes from fuel duties, which in 2019–20 are expected to raise £28 billion in their own right plus an additional £5.7 billion from the VAT payable on the duties. Another £6.5 billion comes from vehicle excise duty (VED) and £0.2 billion from the London congestion charge.
Revenue from fuel duties down by nearly 1% of national income (£19bn) since 2000; £28bn still to be lost if we don’t act soon -
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is said to be pressing for fuel duties to be cut by 2p per litre in the upcoming Budget. This would cost £1 billion a year in lost revenue on top of the £5.5 billion lost since 2010–11 arising from the failure to increase rates in line with CPI inflation. Revenue from fuel duties now stands at £28 billion a year, which is 1.3% of national income. Revenue peaked at 2.2% of national income in 1999–2000.
Localised council tax support schemes six years on
By Stuart Adam and Thomas Pope | 16 April 2019 This month marks six years since councils were given responsibility for designing schemes that help low-income working-age households to pay their council tax, at the same time as central government funding for it was cut. In recently published research, we look at how schemes have changed, and with what effects. We find that cuts to support, which were substantial when schemes were first localised, have grown considerably since then.
Dragging people into higher rates of tax -
This Saturday (6 April 2019) marks the start of a new tax year. Unlike many other countries, the UK routinely – and sensibly – uprates the cash values of most tax thresholds and benefit rates each year in line with inflation, in order to maintain their real value. In a number of cases, however, this routine uprating has now been cancelled for extended periods: The inheritance tax threshold has been fixed at £325,000 since 2009–10. Fuel duties have not increased in cash terms since April 2010.
Submission to Treasury Committee inquiry: The impact of business rates on business -
Submission to Treasury Committee inquiry: The impact of business rates on business Stuart Adam, Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) 5 April 2019 1. This submission necessarily covers a wide range of issues rather briefly. Much of it draws on previous work published in Chapter 16 of Tax by Design, the final report of the Mirrlees Review of the tax system (Mirrlees et al., 2011) and in Chapter 11 of the IFS Green Budget 2014 (Adam and Miller, 2014), which develop some of these points in more detail.
Dragging people into higher rates of tax
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The impacts of localised council tax support schemes -
In April 2013, council tax benefit (CTB), which provided help for low-income households with their council tax, was abolished. In its place, local authorities (LAs) in England were charged with designing their own council tax support (CTS) schemes for those of working age – though they were obliged to provide a centrally determined (and largely protected) level of support for pensioners.
Tax by design -
16 Nov 2011 News On Tuesday 22 November IFS will launch the Mirrlees Review at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington. The Review presents recommendations for tax reform by a group of the world’s leading public finance economists which, while shaped for the U.K., have wider relevance to all advanced ec... 30 Aug 2018 News It is with great sadness that the Institute for Fiscal Studies notes the death of Sir James Mirrlees (1936-2018).
Labour’s proposed income tax rises for high-income individuals
IFS Election 2017 analysis is being produced with funding from the Nuffield Foundation as part of its work to ensure public debate in the run-up to the general election is informed by independent and rigorous evidence. For more information, go to http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org 1. Labour proposes to increase income tax for the 1.3 million people with taxable income exceeding £80,000 per year: the highest-income 2% of adults, or 4% of income taxpayers.
Tax, legal form and the gig economy
This a pre-released chapter from the forthcoming IFS Green Budget 2017. The IFS Green Budget publication, produced in association with ICAEW and with funding from the Nuffield Foundation, will examine the issues and challenges facing Chancellor Philip Hammond as he prepares for his Budget in March. This will be launched at an event at 10:00 on Tuesday 7 February.
Differences in the way the tax system treats the self-employed, owner-managers and employees are costly, inefficient and unfair
Employees still make up 85% of the workforce. But over the last 8 years 39% of the growth in the workforce has come from the self employed and company owner-managers. Some of this may be due to growth in the so-called gig economy, but that is by no means the whole story. Our tax system is much less favourable to the 85% in employment than it is the 15% who work for themselves. The tax differences are small at lower earnings levels but substantial for higher earners.
NUJS and Ashoka University win the GREAT Debate
The four students Archit Krishna, Yashvi Ganeriwal, Aditya Khemka and Isherjeet Singh won themselves the GREAT prize of a week-long study tour in the UK which includes visits to historical sites, academic institutions and cultural events, as well as interaction with students in the UK. GREAT Debate competition celebrates India and the UK’s traditional interest in vibrant discussion and debate.
Tax measures - Institute For Fiscal Studies - IFS
Presentations Tax measures Date: 09 July 2015 Authors: Stuart Adam Publisher: Institute for Fiscal Studies Tweet Email Related items You may also be interested in 07/07/2015 Newspaper Articles 06/07/2015 Newspaper Articles Funded by © 2015 The Institute for Fiscal Studies
Taxes and benefits: the parties’ plans
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The last five years have seen considerable policy activity in the tax and benefit sphere: in total, some £56 billion per year of giveaways and £89 billion per year of takeaways by 2015–16. Most of the main tax reforms have simply changed rates or thresholds within current structures – the increase in the main rate of VAT, cuts to the main corporation tax rate, real cuts to the rates of fuel duties and the big increase in the income tax personal allowance being the most important.
By Thomas Pope Verified, Andrew Hood Verified, James Browne, Robert Joyce, Carl Emmerson, David Phillips, Paul Johnson, Stuart Adam, Barra Roantree, Helen Miller
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Institute for Fiscal Studies
The search for further benefit cuts
The BBC has reported that civil servants and Conservative ministers have been holding discussions about possible cuts to benefits. Options discussed include cuts to child benefit, taxing certain disability benefits, and abolishing a number of non-means-tested benefits altogether, with lower-income claimants partly or wholly protected if they claim means-tested support instead. It is not clear whether any of these reforms will become Conservative Party policy.
Unknown quantities: Labour’s ‘non-dom’ proposal
Yesterday the Labour Party proposed abolishing ‘non-dom’ status except for people who only come to the UK for a short period. Foreign domiciliaries, or ‘non-doms’, are people who live in the UK but whose permanent home for tax purposes (’domicile’) is considered to be elsewhere. They are already taxed in full on their UK income and capital gains.
Taxes up, taxes down, but fundamental problems unaddressed
As part of its deficit reduction programme, the coalition government has made tax changes whose direct impact is to reduce borrowing by an estimated £16.4 billion in 2015–16. This net figure belies much larger changes, with £64.3 billion of tax rises being partly offset by £48.0 billion of tax cuts. But all this activity has done little to improve the structure of the tax system.
The search for further benefit cuts
The BBC has reported that civil servants and Conservative ministers have been holding discussions about possible cuts to benefits. Options discussed include cuts to child benefit, taxing certain disability benefits, and abolishing a number of non-means-tested benefits altogether, with lower-income claimants partly or wholly protected if they claim means-tested support instead. It is not clear whether any of these reforms will become Conservative Party policy.
Taxes up, taxes down, but fundamental problems unaddressed
As part of its deficit reduction programme, the coalition government has made tax changes whose direct impact is to reduce borrowing by an estimated £16.4 billion in 2015–16. This net figure belies much larger changes, with £64.3 billion of tax rises being partly offset by £48.0 billion of tax cuts. But all this activity has done little to improve the structure of the tax system.
The coalition government’s record on tax
In this briefing note, we assess the coalition government’s reforms to the tax system. Although it implemented some large tax rises early in the parliament – an increase in the main rate of VAT and in all rates of National Insurance contributions (NICs) – the government has also managed to find scope for significant tax cuts.
Death to the death tax?
Last week the Prime Minister, David Cameron, stated that he would like to increase the inheritance tax (IHT) threshold, reviving memories of the 2010 Conservative Party manifesto pledge to increase the threshold to £1 million. Such a reform would leave IHT affecting few estates and bringing in little revenue, perhaps raising the question of whether it was worth continuing with the tax at all.
Taxing work and investment across legal forms: pathways to well-designed taxes -
The parts of the UK tax system that dictate how different forms of income are taxed are of central importance and are not fit for purpose. There is a large, unjustified and problematic bias against employment and labour incomes and in favour of business ownership and capital incomes. The tax treatment of returns to investment is a mess: incentives vary depending on the asset type, source of finance and legal structure involved and range from large subsidies to large penalties.
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