James Browne

In a speech in Bedford today, the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Miliband, has proposed reintroducing a 10% income tax rate on a narrow band of income, to be paid for by a new ‘mansion tax’ on residential properties worth more than £2 million. In this observation, IFS researchers explain why there are better alternatives to both of these policies that would have similar distributional effects.

Presentation given at the IFS Green Budget launch, 6 February 2013

This presentation about the how the Dilnot commission proposals could be financed was given at the a seminar organised by Lord Lipsey and Partnership at the House of Lords on 23rd January 2013

Slides and Audio from the presentation given at the IFS Public Economics Lecture series, December 2012

Article published in the Independent 26 October 2012

In a ministerial statement last week the government announced a significant change to its policy to localise Council Tax Benefit (CTB) from next April. In this observation we ask why such a significant change has been announced to a policy two years after it was first announced, less than six months before councils will have to implement it and after many have already consulted on the structure of proposed schemes.

In his speech to the Conservative party conference today, the Chancellor of the Exchequer again stated an intention to reduce welfare expenditure by a further £10 billion per year by 2016–17. In this observation, IFS researchers analyse the suggested cuts.

Presentation given at the ESRI, Dublin, 27 September 2012