Another paper produced for the IFS Mirrlees Review discusses the politics of taxation in a democratic society. The title of this paper is  The Political Economy of Taxation. This contains useful information about interest groups and how they respond to proposals for change.

Another paper which forms part of the IFS Mirrlees Review deals with administration and compliance, pointing out that with present transaction-based taxes, the costs fall primarily on business. There is a useful discussion there concerning the difference between who bears the burden of a tax and who is statutorily liable. It talks about distortion costs, efficiency costs, distribution costs, administration...

The Institute of Fiscal Studies is the main sponsor of the Mirrlees Review, chaired by Nobel Laureate Professor Sir James Mirrlees of the University of Cambridge, with the aim of designing what they call “a tax system for the 21st century”. This has generated much detailed work, exposing the detailed impact of the tax system. There is a mass of discussion about the effects, all of them...

Articles in the transport press point to the problems caused because there is no proper system of land value taxation in place. This is disussed in relation to Crossrail, which received Royal Assent in July. Who will pay for the £16 billion scheme?

This article appeared in the Monitor section of “Public Service and Local Government” May 1983. “PAYE” is Pay As You Earn, the UK way of collecting personal income tax by making the businesses collect it at their expense from wages and salaries from their employees.   Corporate accounting British Steel lost £358m in the year 1981/82. Or did it? Everything depends on how the...