Better Budgets: has tax policy making improved?

Six years ago, the Institute for Government, Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Chartered Institute of Taxation published a joint report on Better Budgets: making tax policy better. Based on extensive interviews with tax policy stakeholders, the report concluded that the tax policy-making process was seriously flawed and that – to reduce taxpayer confusion, cut down costly errors and avoid embarrassing U-turns – the government should overhaul how it makes tax and budget decisions. 

Six years on from the report, and as chancellor Jeremy Hunt prepared to present his first budget following a tumultuous autumn for tax policy, this event looked back on the conclusions we reached and the recommendations we made. Did our report identify the right problems and solutions? Have there been any improvements in tax policymaking since then? And have any new problems or unexpected solutions appeared? 

To discuss these questions and more, our expert panel included:

• Bill Dodwell, Outgoing Tax Director, Office of Tax Simplification and former CIOT President
• Paul Johnson, Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies
• Jill Rutter, Senior Fellow at the Institute for Government
• Edward Troup, Former HMRC Permanent Secretary and Tax and Tax Policy Commentator

The event was chaired by Gemma Tetlow, Chief Economist at the Institute for Government.