Reports

The Green Budget looks at the Chancellor's options for his forthcoming Budget.

In this paper we describe the information available in the Retirement Survey, together with other sources of data that might be used by someone wanting to study retirement behaviour in the UK.

In this briefing note we add to the current debate on UK annuity markets by providing some simple descriptive analysis from household survey data. In particular, using data from recent waves of the Family Resources Survey, we consider how the current population of (elderly) annuitants differs from the elderly population at large, and describe differences in the characteristics of the group holding voluntary, as opposed to mandatory annuity policies.

Since the completion of the Single Market in 1992 it has become easier for people in the UK to take advantage of lower priced goods across the border. Alcohol is one good where there has been particular concern about the level of cross-border shopping because of differences in tax rates between the UK and France. If the Chancellor wants to reduce the amount of cross-border shopping by cutting duty, the important policy question is whether overall these two effects would have a positive or negative effect on revenue.

This discussion paper describes the structure of Family Credit and the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC). It looks at the characteristics of likely recipients and discusses how the WFTC will affect work incentives for different types of households. The paper then goes on to discuss a series of issues that deserve attention and discussion in the context of the UK reform, and perhaps more generally in the consideration of policies of this type.

In the 1999 Pre-Budget Report the Chancellor announced measuers to encourage charitable giving through tax relief on donations. These are explained in this Briefing Note.

The government published its first plans for stakeholder pensions in December 1998. Since then more flesh has been put on the bones with the publication of six disussion papers each focusing on a different aspects of stakeholder pensions -the minimum standards, the employer access requirement, the clearing arrangements, regulation, advice and information, governance and the tax regime. This note summarises - and critically appraises - the government's proposals

In this report, the Committee presents its recommendations for the creation of a unified tax tribunals system to cover all taxes. It does so against the background of the comments that it received on its first Report, which are extensively summarised in the Appendix. The Committee urges the Lord Chancellor's Department to act upon its recommendations and implement the proposed new tribunal system by 2002.

The gradual shift in responsibility for welfare provision, from the government to individuals, is making household saving and wealth holding a key policy concern.

This report considers sources of bias in cost-of-living and price indices, with particular reference to the UK's retail price index. The sources of bias discussed are caused by the introduction of new goods, quality change in existing goods and commodity substitution by consumers. New methods of quantifying these biases and correcting them are presented with empirical applications.

The report starts from first principles, asking whether there is any need for a benefit to relieve the council tax and identifying problems with the very structure of council tax benefit. It goes on to consider whether council tax benefit succeeds in leaving local tax bills affordable for low-income groups, using data from the FRS. Even after allowing for benefit, it is found that council tax bills pose an especially large burden for elderly people. Further, a widespread failure to take up entitlement to benefit is found to be preventing the benefit's cleverly designed rules from actually helping many of those in most need. The problems identified in the design and performance of council tax benefit motivate the consideration of several reforms, which range from outright abolition to minor simplification.

The report shows what differentiates the individuals in the survey who entered work over a twelve month period from those who remained out of work over the course of a year. It examines how the distribution of hourly wages earned by new entrants into jobs differs from the distribution of wages for those already in work. This `entry wage' information is just used to estimate gains to working for people who are currently unemployed or inactive, and to assess to what extent financial incentives affect entry into work. The report also simulates what the effect of the WFTC, the NI reforms, and the 10p tax rate might be on the numbers of men and women entering work and how these reforms might increase employment.

This commentary assesses the government's proposals. It provides a detailed description of the current pension system and asks whether there is a case for reform. It looks at how much pensioners are likely to benefit from the Minimum Income Guarantee and how the new State Second Pension compares with SERPS. It evaluates the government's plans for Stakeholder Pensions and presents new evidence on the employment, earnings and other savings of the people whom the government sees as targets for Stakeholder Pensions.

In this report the Tax Law Review Committee responds to the Inland Revenue's proposals. It concludes that the proposals fail to secure the objectives of the Committee's previous Report. Furthermore, the proposed rule places no significant burden on the Revenue to justify its use, fails to secure a proper balance of interests between Revenue and taxpayers and would be intrusive on ordinary commercial and private transactions.

This Green Budget looks at the options available to the Chancellor in his March Budget.

This commentary looks at the impact of taxing child benefit under a number of scenarios. This involves analysis of the amount of revenue raised, the distributional impact of using this revenue to increase the rate of child benefit and the administrative issues encountered under particular tax treatments. In addition, the commentary examines the implications of taxing child benefit for the future direction of tax system reform.

This commentary assesses the impact of capping on local service provision. In particular it addresses the following questions. What factors determine desired local spending? Did capping constrain spending by local councils? Which local services bore the brunt of any cuts? Did the quality of local services suffer as a result?