Taxes and benefits

The September 2010 inflation numbers, used for the annual inflation adjustments to many taxes, benefits and tax credits, were published today by the ONS. In June, the Chancellor announced that benefits would be uprated with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rather than the Retail Prices Index (RPI) or Rossi Index from April 2011, claiming that the CPI provided a better measure of benefit recipients'

The Government has announced that child benefit will be withdrawn from families containing a higher-rate taxpayer from April 2013. This would save around £1 billion a year, but the way it will be withdrawn looks unfair to some families, and will seriously distort work incentives for some families with children.

This presentation was given at the Oxbridge Public Economics Lectures in October 2010

The consultation period on the Government's ideas for fundamental reforms to the benefits system ends on 1 October. Integrating all benefits and tax credits should create a system which is simpler for both claimants and government, but the Government will need to explain much more clearly how a Universal Credit would work and how much different groups of recipients will get if we are to have an informed debate on its merits.

This presentation was delivered at a Daycare Trust seminar, September 16 2010.

This presentation was delivered as part of an invited session at the 10th World Congress of the Econometric Society in Shanghai.

This presentation was delivered as part of an invited session at the 10th World Congress of the Econometric Society in Shanghai.

This presentation was delivered as part of an invited session at the 10th World Congress of the Econometric Society in Shanghai.

This presentation was delivered as part of an invited session at the 10th World Congress of the Econometric Society in Shanghai.

This presentation was delivered as part of an invited session at the 10th World Congress of the Econometric Society in Shanghai.

The Department of Work and Pensions today published a consultation paper called 21st Century Welfare which sets out ideas for fundamental reforms to the benefits system. The report presents a number of options for integrating different existing benefits.