Government finances and spending

In this presentation at the Local Government Association's Annual Local Government Finance Conference (2022), IFS researchers explained the economic and fiscal outlook, looked at how councils' finances have fared during the pandemic, and the funding outlook and issues facing the sector in the next few years.

An initial analysis of the 2022-23 Local Government Finance Settlement finds slightly more funding than expected, and bigger increases for poorer areas.

This report analyses Ghana’s customs revenues in historical and international context, before using detailed data to investigate the drivers of revenue in recent years.

This report looks at annual education spending in the UK.

The next few years are likely to be particularly challenging for schools, colleges, universities and nurseries. This event examined how education spending can be best set to support levelling up and narrow inequalities.

As part of this year’s Festival of Social Science, IFS delivered a public economic talk on "The economics of higher education" aimed at final year undergraduates studying economics.

African countries could consider temporary, progressive tax reforms that have significant revenue potential whilst minimising short-term negative economic impacts, including wealth taxes, temporary increases in the top rates of personal income tax, and higher taxation of businesses and sectors that fared well during the pandemic.

Increasing vehicle use throughout Africa has potentially large social, economic and environmental costs, particularly in urban areas caused by congestion, accidents and pollution. New research suggests that vehicle taxes in the region commonly fail to address these issues, which are applied predominantly to vehicle imports rather than ownership or usage.

In this paper, we look at why a global deal on global tax reforms was needed, explain how the reforms are likely to work in practice and set out the potential impacts of the global deal, with a focus on lower-income countries.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced his Autumn 2021 Budget and Spending Review on Wednesday 27 October. IFS researchers presented their initial analysis of the Chancellor's announcements on the public finances, spending on public services, and the tax and the benefit system today, Thursday 28 October at a livestreamed press briefing.