Greater fiscal transparency is seen by its advocates as a means of improving economic governance arrangements in ways which, by promoting fiscal stability, will in turn improve the functioning of the government sector and facilitate improvements in the economic environment for the private sector. ‘Fiscal transparency’ is much acclaimed by policy-makers, not only in the UK Treasury but also by the IMF and OECD. Fiscal transparency can have substance or can just be voguish incantation. This article explores the meaning of fiscal transparency, by examining its structure and evaluating criteria for assessing the degree of fiscal transparency attached to particular sets of circumstances. It explores the link between transparency and accountability, developing the distinction between event and process transparency. Consideration is given to the trade-off between the value of sunlight (to employ an analogy) and the danger of over-exposure. The performance of the United Kingdom against emerging international best practice is examined, with regard to both public expenditure and taxation. By international standards, UK fiscal transparency is high. Nevertheless, there is a major gap between UK rhetoric and practice, indicating a  divergence between nominal and effective transparency. This is evidenced by: frequent changes in public expenditure definitions; the non-publication of important analyses; the location of certain liabilities ‘off-balance sheet’; and a lack of candour about tax policy.

/pdf/fiscal-transparency-concepts-measurement-and-uk-practice-2fqxw10ny2.pdf

Fiscal Transparency: Concepts, Measurement and UK Practice

Mike Brewer is Director of the Direct Tax and Welfare Research Programme at the IFS and a Research Affiliate of the National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan His main research interests are in the impact of welfare reform and the personal tax and benefit system on families with children He has evaluated the labour market impact of the working families’ tax credit, and the impact of a time-limited in-work programme for lone parents in the UK He has written widely about the current UK government’s ambition to eradicate child poverty

/pdf/means-testing-and-tax-rates-on-earnings-335i6zwjgp.pdf

Means testing and tax rates on earnings

Commitment to Equity Handbook: Estimating the Impact of Fiscal Policy on Inequality and Poverty

We document that the rise of factors such as software, intellectual property, brand, and innovative business processes, collectively known as “intangible capital” can explain much of the weakness in physical capital investment since 2000. Moreover, intangibles have distinct economic features compared to physical capital. For example, they are scalable (e.g., software) though some also have legal protections (e.g., patents or copyrights). These characteristics may have enabled the rise in industry concentration over the last two decades. Indeed, we show that the rise in intangibles is driven by industry leaders and coincides with increases in their market share and hence, rising industry concentration. Moreover, intangibles are associated with at least two drivers of rising concentration: market power and productivity gains. Productivity gains derived from intangibles are strongest in the Consumer sector, while market power derived from intangibles is strongest in the Healthcare sector. These shifts have important policy implications, since intangible capital is less interest-sensitive and less collateralizable than physical capital, potentially weakening traditional transmission mechanisms. However, these shifts also create opportunities for policy innovation around new market mechanisms for intangible capital.

/pdf/understanding-weak-capital-investment-the-role-of-market-4934tz8diu.pdf

Understanding Weak Capital Investment: the Role of Market Concentration and Intangibles

Preface The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has supported this project as part of its programme of research and innovative development projects, which it hopes will be of value to policymakers, practitioners and service users. The facts presented and views expressed in this report are, however, those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation. Neither are the views expressed necessarily those of the other individuals or institutions mentioned here, including the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which has no corporate view. Co-funding from the ESRC-funded Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy at IFS (grant number RES-544-28-0001) is also very gratefully acknowledged. Data from the Family Resources Survey were made available by the Department for Work and Pensions, which bears no responsibility for the interpretation of the data in this report. The Labour Force Survey (LFS) and Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS) data were supplied through the UK Data Archive. The data are Crown Copyright and reproduced with the permission of the controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland. The authors would like to thank Paul Johnson, David Phillips and Luke Sibieta for their helpful comments. Any errors and all views expressed are those of the authors.

/pdf/living-standards-poverty-and-inequality-in-the-uk-2014-2x5qtffef9.pdf

Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK: 2014

Tax by design

This paper provides a summary of the conclusions and recommendations of the Mirrlees Review of the UK tax system. The characteristics that a good tax system should possess are described and used to assess the current UK system. A package of reforms for the UK system which will move it closer to the ideal is proposed. Issues related to transition and to practical implementation of the reform package are discussed.

/pdf/the-mirrlees-review-conclusions-and-recommendations-for-2tyrgpgstc.pdf

The Mirrlees Review: Conclusions and Recommendations for Reform†

Based on the best available theory and evidence, the Mirrlees Review sets out a comprehensive set of proposals for tax reform. While focused on the UK, its analysis and conclusions bear directly on the policy debate in other developed countries. The Review proposes a move to a more neutral tax system. Key ingredients include adjusting the personal tax and welfare system to achieve redistribution more effi ciently, imposing VAT on a broader base of consumption at a single rate, targeting environmental externalities more accurately, and aligning tax rates across all income sources while exempting the normal return to saving from tax, and introducing an allowance for corporate equity into the corporate tax system.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/41791142.pdf

The Mirrlees Review: A proposal for systematic tax reform

/pdf/the-ifs-green-budget-january-2007-2mmb3vfe15.pdf

The IFS Green Budget: January 2007

/pdf/pre-budget-report-and-comprehensive-spending-review-2007-23qfmmfh9x.pdf

Pre-Budget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review 2007

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