Previous Events

Tax credits: a help or hindrance for low pay?

Date: 29 May 2012

Commission on Living Standards Policy Series
Tax credits: a help or hindrance for low pay?

Tax credits provided a vital support for low to middle income households in the run up to the 2008 financial crisis. With wage growth weak and female employment faltering, tax credits were all that prevented widespread declines in living standards. Yet with a price tag rising to nearly £30 billion a year many would argue that significant growth in future tax credit spending is unsustainable. Questions also persist about whether they depress wages, acting as a subsidy to big employers that could well afford to pay more. Resolution Foundation will present new analysis which examines these questions. We will be joined by leading experts and commentators to discuss the future role of the tax credit system.

Paul Gregg, Professor of Economic and Social Policy, University of Bath
Matthew Whittaker, Senior Economist, Resolution Foundation
Polly Toynbee, Columnist and Author, The Guardian
Nicholas Timmins, Former Public Policy Editor, Financial Times
Gavin Kelly, Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation (Chair)

This event is part of a series of Resolution Foundation debates exploring solutions to the current living standards crisis, ahead of the final report of the Commission on Living Standards, to be published this autumn.

Find out where you stand in the income distribution: visit www.livingstandards.org