Pre-Budget Report 2008

Briefing

The Chancellor presented his Pre-Budget Report at 3.30pm on Monday 24th November. IFS held a briefing on the following day, Tuesday 25th November, at 1pm.

• Robert Chote's opening remarks
• Tax and benefit changes and distributional analysis, Mike Brewer and James Browne
• PBR 2008 and the public finances, Carl Emmerson
• PBR 2008 and the fiscal rules, Gemma Tetlow
• Indirect and business taxes, Stuart Adam

Public finances and the fiscal stance

• The UK public finances: ready for recession?
  This Briefing Note looks at a couple of key indicators of the health of the public finances in historical and international perspective.
• Alistair Darling's mini-Budget: can he afford it?
  This note assesses the impact of recent tax and benefit changes on the public finances and the economy.
• Green Budget 2008
  Two chapters from the January 2008 Green Budget discuss the evolution of the public finances under Labour, and the current fiscal framework.
• PBR 2008: setting the scene; two presentations, one by Robert Chote and one by Carl Emmerson, outline the Governments' current fiscal position and economic outlook.

Personal taxes and living standards

• The 10% tax rate: where next?
  This note looked at the winners and losers of these changes to the tax system and the government's efforts to compensate those who lost out.
• Racing away? Income inequality and the evolution of high incomes
  This Briefing Note provides an analysis of the characteristics of high-income individuals and how their incomes have evolved over time.
• The inflation experience of older households
  This Commentary looks at the inflation experience for different groups of households, focusing in particular on pensioner households.
• Poverty and inequality in the UK: 2008
  An update on trends in living standards, income inequality and poverty.
• Options for Tax Credit reform
  IFS was asked by Barnardo's to model three reforms of the tax credit system, each designed to reduce child poverty to the government's 2010/11 target in a different way.