In April 1991 the Government set out its proposals for replacement of the Community Charge (poll tax) by the Council Tax. This paper analyses the structure of the new tax and examines its distributional effects. Section II describes the proposed tax and demonstrates how it is hybrid of poll tax,...

Presenting his 2010 spending review, George Osborne, the Chancellor, insisted that "those with the broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden". How did the Coalition's benefit and direct tax policies affect the distribution of incomes, inequality and poverty?

This paper examines the decline of National Insurance in Britain, as witnessed by its declining share of all social security spending and the steady dilution of the ¿contributory principle¿ on which it was originally based. It argues that this decline is not an accident: under governments of...

This CASEbrief summarises 'Paying for health, education and housing: how does the centre pull the purse strings?' by Howard Glennerster, John Hills and Tony Travers, with Ross Hendry, published by the Oxford University Press

Interim report of the Fuel Poverty Review