Fourteen years of missed opportunities

There has been a lot of tax policy change since 2010 and a lot of complexity added –new taxes and new differentiated rates allowances and reliefs added to existing taxes. But opportunities were missed to improve the design of the tax system finds a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

The report which was funded by the abrdn Financial Fairness Trust and the Nuffield Foundation notes that relative to 2010 the government now raises more revenue (as a share of national income) from income tax VAT corporation tax and capital taxes. Less is raised from fuel and tobacco duties and from business rates.

The share of over-65s paying income tax has risen rapidly from 48% in 2010-11 to 65% in 2023-24 – higher than the share of working-age adults paying income tax (63%)...