Monetary policy· Public finances· Tax· Macroeconomic policy· Political parties and elections Talking tax What’s been said and what’s gone unsaid in the Conservative leadership election? 26 July 2022 by Torsten Bell and Adam Corlett Elections are rarely entirely about a single issue, but there are exceptions. Brexit in the 2019 general election stands out, and today tax cuts totally dominate the 2022 Conservative leadership… READ MORE
Incomes· Growth Are you better off today? Real income growth under different governments since 1955 3 November 2021 by Adam Corlett …a period of relatively steady growth over much of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.1 More recently, it also shows the shocks of the financial crisis, the post-Brexit-referendum inflation spike, and… READ MORE
Incomes The Living Standards Outlook 2021 18 January 2021 by Mike Brewer and Adam Corlett and Karl Handscomb and Daniel Tomlinson …of economy support closely to the easing of the public health restrictions, a strong fiscal stimulus, and moving a post-Brexit and post-Covid UK onto a path of faster productivity growth…. READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Covid-19 New data shows households were struggling even before coronavirus 26 March 2020 by Adam Corlett …fall in 2017-18. These are figures not normally seen outside periods of recession and reflect the high inflation seen following the Brexit vote. So, the coronavirus recession is arriving only… READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty Charting the UK’s lost decade of income growth 5 March 2020 by Adam Corlett …and the period of high inflation that followed the Brexit vote: a double whammy for household finances. The long march of pensioner living standards progress Of course, these averages hide… READ MORE
Incomes· Prices & consumption· Inequality & poverty· Social security The benefit freeze has ended, but erosion of the social security safety net continues Expected benefit uprating in April 2020 16 October 2019 by Adam Corlett …post-Brexit boost to living standards. Alternatively, the government might be forced to act by a recession. Whatever the cause of that recession, benefit increases would likely need to be an… READ MORE
Wealth· Tax· Political parties and elections The huge Brexit Party tax cut for rich remain areas 16 September 2019 by Adam Corlett and Torsten Bell There are bad ideas, really bad ideas – and then there’s abolishing inheritance tax. This is the new top priority announced by the Brexit Party – one of only two… READ MORE
Prices & consumption· Incomes· Trade· Tax After Brexit the UK could cut VAT on energy – but should it? 2 September 2019 by Adam Corlett …could consider: 1) Give money to those in poverty Beyond demonstrating that some things are possible post-Brexit that weren’t before, what is the goal of the policy? Based on the… READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty Last year saw living standards stagnate and poverty rise 28 March 2019 by Adam Corlett …But if they can ever finish debating Brexit, they should consider what course they’d like poverty to take in the 2020s and how exactly they intend to achieve that. … READ MORE
Wealth· Tax How wealth taxes can raise billions more without scaring any horses 3 January 2019 by Torsten Bell and Adam Corlett …if the politics of Brexit and a governing party without a majority make wholesale reform of headline wealth taxes difficult, significant progress can be made across five big areas of… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Public finances· Tax The Chancellor may have one arm tied behind his back, but there are still tax levers he can pull 21 October 2018 by Adam Corlett How can a government with a tenuous majority, an intra-party feud and Brexit uncertainty find the money to ‘end austerity’ on top of more than £20 billion a year it… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Social security Despite ‘the end of austerity’, April promises another deep benefit cut 17 October 2018 by Adam Corlett …a limited impact in its first two years. But with the Brexit vote and resultant price increases, CPI inflation reached 3 per cent in September 2017. Normally, that September figure… READ MORE
Wealth· Tax Entrepreneurs’ Relief has cost £22 billion over the past 10 years. Was it worth it? 29 August 2018 by Adam Corlett …when the standard CGT rates were cut, lowering the value of the relief by reducing the tax that was due in the first place). In ‘Brexit bus’ terms, that’s over… READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty· Childcare· Social security A history lesson wouldn’t hurt – at least when it comes to child poverty 24 July 2018 by Torsten Bell and Adam Corlett …an autocrat to worry about. But a history lesson or two for policy makers wouldn’t go amiss over the summer break, because amid the growing Brexit-related chaos something else is… READ MORE
Incomes· Budgets & fiscal events· Inequality & poverty· Public finances Should the Office for Budget Responsibility also forecast inequality? 2 March 2018 by Adam Corlett The strengths and weaknesses of economic forecasting are under scrutiny, perhaps like never before. How might GDP perform under different Brexit policies compared to a world with no Brexit? Is… READ MORE
Incomes For low income families, the next four years could be worse than the recession 16 May 2017 by Adam Corlett …just what Brexit really means. But the official Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts for pay, prices and employment are as comprehensive as it gets, and they’re what Chancellors set their… READ MORE
Tax· Political parties and elections A matter of tax: pre-election briefing on the main parties’ tax policies 16 May 2017 by Adam Corlett There is much that is unusual about the 2017 general election, from its surprise announcement to the dominance of a single issue – Brexit – on which the parties themselves… READ MORE
Incomes· Inequality & poverty Living Standards 2017: the past, present and possible future of UK incomes 31 January 2017 by Adam Corlett and Stephen Clarke …can help support even more people into work, and begin to address the country’s chronic productivity problem. These things, alongside the handling of Brexit negotiations, should be government’s focus for… READ MORE
Budgets & fiscal events· Work· Tax Will the Chancellor replace employer National Insurance with a payroll levy? 5 October 2016 by Adam Corlett …Chancellor, the economic implications of the Brexit vote and the resetting of fiscal policy for the rest of the parliament, there will be plenty to watch out for. But despite… READ MORE
