What the IFS says about Lib Dem policies (the good and the less good)
The Institute for Fiscal Studies today delivered its Election Briefing 2010 verdict. We’ve looked at what it says about Lib Dem policies, and publish relevant extracts, below – highlighting both the...
View ArticleCoalition puts up strong defence on IFS report
There’s a standard approach people take to reports. If the report happens to back up our position, it’s right – and we certainly don’t need to go as far as reading or critically appraising it to figure...
View ArticleLiblink: Nick Clegg on fairness, the Budget and the IFS report
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, writing in today’s Financial Times (free registration required), champions the government’s commitment to fairness and explains why he believes yesterday’s IFS report...
View ArticleIFS: Browne offers “a graduate tax by another name”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) have looked at the Browne Report. Their conclusion raises some interesting points. our analysis suggests that graduates with higher earnings would repay...
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Opinion: the IFS, the buts and the maybes – questions of fairness and the CSR
Last week Nick Clegg and the Institute of Fiscal studies squared up over the issue of whether the cuts proposed in the Comprehensive Spending Review are fair. It is a debate which strikes at the heart...
View ArticleThe IFS answers… Who counts as poor?
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has been much quoted and criticised by all sides over the last few months as the government has set out its willingness to be judged on how progressive or not its...
View ArticleThe IFS answers… Is the data accurate enough for its calculations?
Yesterday I blogged the first of a set of answers from the IFS about its calculations and the data behind them. Those answers nicely lead on to the next question: In looking at the impact of the Budget...
View ArticleThe IFS answers… What about wider policy impacts?
Yesterday I made the point that the way in which the IFS presents its estimates as to how progressive or not government measures are risks giving an over-precise impression bearing in mind the data and...
View ArticleThe IFS answers… Is increasing VAT progressive?
For the final part in our question and answer series with the IFS on a range of questions about their views on government policy it is the turn of VAT. The impact of increasing VAT is an issue on which...
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The IFS’s verdict on the Pupil Premium
At the start of this week details of the Pupil Premium to help the education of the most disadvantaged children were published. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has now run its eye over those...
View ArticleRich to lose most, more to pay higher tax – IFS
Today the Institute for Fiscal Studies published an analysis of the likely impact of the tax and benefit changes due in April, with a complicated and mixed picture summarised by its balanced headline:...
View ArticleWhat the think tanks are saying: The IFS on the Universal Credit
The Welfare Reform Bill was introduced to Parliament on the 17th February. It involves the biggest changes to the welfare system in at least 20 years, probably a lot longer. It includes the Universal...
View ArticleOpinion: the Liberal Democrats should support a Living Wage
The Living Wage is a term which has gained ground in mainstream politics over the past year or so. Ed Miliband has used it in attempts to forge his political identity. Boris Johnson has spokenof his...
View ArticleEducational Maintenance Allowance: how hard is it for the new policy to be...
Yesterday Michael Gove, finally, announced the government’s proposals for replacing the Educational Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme. As previously trailed, Liberal Democrat pressure has secured more...
View ArticleThe Independent View: Lib Dems need to champion new ideas for tackling child...
Figures released this week by the IFS show that the UK will witness a severe and sustained increase in child poverty over the coming decade, with almost a quarter of British children set to be living...
View ArticleOpinion: both private and public sector pensions need improving
There are two fundamental problems with the analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies of the current negotiations on public sector pensions. Firstly, the IFS compares public sector pension provision...
View ArticleMaking work pay – how taxes should work better for the ‘squeezed middle’
The Resolution Foundation helped give birth to the phrase ‘squeezed middle’: that group of low-income individuals and families just above the threshold to qualify for most welfare help, but only just...
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IFS verdict: Labour’s 10p tax idea “has no plausible economic justification”
Ed Miliband’s announcement yesterday that Labour will re-introduce a 10p starting rate of income tax paid for through the introduction of Vince Cable’s mansion tax has received a tepid response from...
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Opinion: Who’s been hit hardest by the coalition’s cuts?
The budget on March 20th is likely to concentrate on growth, on avoiding an ‘omnishambles’, and on fighting the notion that Osborne has taken the country from triple A to triple dip. But it’s also the...
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Uncomfortable truths from the IFS on public spending and tax cuts but...
Last week, the highly-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies produced its annual “Green Budget”: its attempt to inject some realism into the national debate on the economy ahead of the chancellor’s...
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