Tax and top incomes

The top 1% of UK adults receive around 15% of pre-tax income. The source of top incomes, who gets them and how they are taxed is important for understanding inequalities.

At this online event we addressed a number of key questions. How have top incomes and their source been changing over time? Who is in the top 1% - are they employees, or business owners or rentiers? How much tax do the top pay and should they pay more? How have things differed in the US, and can this help determine the cause of top income shares? How do tax authorities approach some of the difficulties with taxing top incomes, including the large degree of uncertainty about how those with high incomes will respond to tax increases? How does income inequality relate to others forms of inequality?

This event was chaired by Paul Johnson, IFS Director, and featured talks from:

• Richard Blundell, IFS & UCL
• Helen Miller, IFS Deputy Director
• Edward Troup, former senior civil servant in HMRC and HM Treasury
• Owen Zidar, Professor of Economics, Princeton