Government finances and spending

Helen Miller gave a public talk on the topic of "Are the rich paying their fair share of tax?" at the University of Manchester on 24/10/17.

In this blog, we discuss research studying the changing state of local government finance and runs through the key findings from a joint report with LGiU.

This presentation was given at a conference organised by the Office of Manpower Economics on 21 September 2017.

Last week, the Secretary of State for Education announced arrangements for school funding in England in 2018–19 and 2019–20. This confirmed additional annual funding of around £900m by 2019–20 (as compared with pre-election plans) and announced the amended plans for the national funding formula. Under these new proposals, the funding local authorities receive for schools will be linked to local area characteristics; however, a new national school-level formula will now not be in place until at least 2020–21. This is a smaller step than planned prior to the election – although still one in the right direction. The slower pace of reform and additional money also mean that schools losing out under previous plans will probably see their funding situation improve slightly. This observation describes the current system, why reform is needed and the likely effects of the latest proposals.

In this observation IFS researchers analyse how much it would really cost to write-off student debt.

On 1st of September of 2017, Laura Abramovsky spoke at HMRC's International Tax Training Programme, a flagship programme run on behalf of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA: http://www.catatax.org/). In this presentation, Laura introduces IFS' work to support evidence-based tax policy and administration design in the UK and in low- and middle-income countries.

This presentation was given at the Understanding Society Scientific Conference, Essex, July 2017

Following seven years of spending cuts following the financial crisis and associated record deficit, there is a growing call for the government to “end austerity”. Yet current plans imply more spending cuts as the government looks to reduce the deficit further. This observation – and an associated joint event with the Institute for Government – reflects on what ending austerity might mean in the context of the scale and shape of the planned fiscal tightening.

This presentation will be delivered at a joint IFS/IfG event on 12 July 2017.

IFS Director writes in The Times.

IFS Director Paul Johnson writes in The Times.

Last week’s Queen’s Speech inevitably focused on Brexit. A lot of the subsequent media coverage highlighted the Conservative manifesto pledges that were missing. But councils will have noticed another notable absence: a Local Government Finance Bill. With the 2016/17 Bill failing to pass before the election, where does this leave reforms to the local government finance system?

IFS Director Paul Johnson writes in The Times.

This presentation was given by David Autor (MIT) at the 2017 IFS annual lecture.

IFS Director Paul Johnson writes in The Times.

IFS Director Paul Johnson writes in The Times.