The UK moves from March to December Budgets

Barring any very unexpected developments, next month’s Budget Speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be the last such speech to occur in March for the foreseeable future (and perhaps for ever) in the UK. As part of last year’s budget package, the Government published a White Paper on budgetary reform (HMSO, 1992) which announced that in future, Budget Speeches would be made in December of each year rather than in March as at present. However, the tax year will continue to begin in April, so that the lead time between the announcement of tax proposals in the Budget and the coming into force of most of them will be extended from about three weeks to about 16.

Tax expenditures: the case of occupational pensions

There are many areas of the tax system in which substantial concessions are made, or appear to be made, to certain forms of activity. Such concessions, or reliefs, can cost the government money in just the same way as direct public expenditure programmes. The recognition of this fact is important, but we argue in this paper that measuring the revenue forgone as a result of a given tax treatment is not straightforward. In some cases the figures published are easily and frequently misinterpreted, or may be flawed in themselves.

Regulation and redistribution in utilities

The consumption of utilities (for example, energy and water), along with that of other goods such as food, clothing, shelter, health and education, is often thought of as something that has particular distributional significance. This concern is reflected by the range of welfare and regulatory measures in place that are designed to guard against non-participation or under-consumption. The pricing of these goods illustrates well the conflicting arguments between economic efficiency and equity. The case for charging VAT on fuel, for example, is essentially an efficiency argument which points to the distortionary effects of a tax system that increases the prices of some goods (for example, double-glazing) and not of others (for example, domestic energy). The counter-argument is based upon notions of equity: that it is unfair to tax a necessity because the effects fall hardest on the living standards of poor households.

Pensions policy in the UK: An economic analysis

An attempt to unravel the complexities of pension policy in the UK, including financial, fiscal, labour-market and income-distribution analyses of the retirement-income system. This book, drawing on five years’ IFS research, was widely praised. A Financial Times editorial observed that ‘The IFS’s pioneering attempt to quantify the different returns to pensioners is welcome’. The Independent reported that ‘This book challenges the common assumption that personal pension plans are inherently more risky than occupational or state provision’.

Pensions policy in the UK: An economic analysis

An attempt to unravel the complexities of pension policy in the UK, including financial, fiscal, labour-market and income-distribution analyses of the retirement-income system. This book, drawing on five years’ IFS research, was widely praised. A Financial Times editorial observed that ‘The IFS’s pioneering attempt to quantify the different returns to pensioners is welcome’. The Independent reported that ‘This book challenges the common assumption that personal pension plans are inherently more risky than occupational or state provision’

Pensions policy in the UK: An economic analysis

An attempt to unravel the complexities of pension policy in the UK, including financial, fiscal, labour-market and income-distribution analyses of the retirement-income system. This book, drawing on five years’ IFS research, was widely praised. A Financial Times editorial observed that ‘The IFS’s pioneering attempt to quantify the different returns to pensioners is welcome’. The Independent reported that ‘This book challenges the common assumption that personal pension plans are inherently more risky than occupational or state provision’