Taxation and social policy / edited by Andy Lymer, Margaret May and Adrian Sinfield.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Andy Lymer

Contributor:

Lymer, Andrew, editor.

May, Margaret, 1947- editor.

Sinfield, Adrian, editor.

Series:

Policy Press scholarship online.

Policy Press scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social policy--Economic aspects.

Social policy.

Taxation--Social aspects.

Taxation.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (303 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Policy Press 2023

Bristol : Policy Press, 2023.

Summary:

This book explores tax and social policy and how they interact with each other. It covers key interactions, debates and challenges of tax and social policy and examines how analyses might be combined and policy options developed for effective delivery in both areas.

Contents:

Front Cover

Taxation and Social Policy

Copyright information

Table of contents

List of figures and tables

List of abbreviations

Notes on contributors

Acknowledgments

1 Introduction: The case for considering taxation and social policy together

References

2 Fiscal and social policy: two sides of the same coin

The persistent lack of co-ordinated policy

Fiscal policy comes under the spotlight

The shifting burden of taxation

The evolution of tax credits

Fiscal policy in the age of austerity

Horizontal versus vertical inequalities

The way forward: Universal Basic Income?

Conclusion: Where next?

Postscript: October 2022

'Trickle-down' under Truss

Note

Further reading

3 Tax and the social policy landscape

Introduction

What is a tax?

Why do we tax?

Link between taxation and government spending

Behavioural tool

Other motivations for taxation

Administering the tax system

Direct versus indirect

Progressivity versus regressivity versus proportionality

Principles of good tax system design

Equity

Convenience

Certainty

Efficiency

Are all these characteristics equally important?

Digitisation

Application of tax bases and levels of UK taxes collected

Income

Wealth

Consumption

Who pays what UK taxes?

Personal taxes

Corporate taxes

Tax policy-making structure and processes

HM Treasury versus HM Revenue and Customs

Department for Work and Pensions

Courts

Conclusion

Notes

4 Fiscal welfare and tax expenditures

The growing recognition of fiscal welfare and tax expenditures

The reluctant unveiling of UK tax expenditures

The official UK classification of tax reliefs

Government failure to examine distribution.

'The distinctive political dynamics' of tax expenditures (Hacker, 2002)

Influence on private markets and the wider society

Examining comparable public and tax spending together

Policy development, evaluation and change

5 Employment, self-employment and taxation

Introduction: perceptions, politics and socio-economic implications

Taxing employment: simplicity and complexity

Defining employment

A fair and efficient form of taxation

State of play for self-employment in the UK

Who are the self-employed?

Politics of tax reform

Conclusion: The difficulty of change

6 Pensions and taxation

The UK pension system

The pensions policy landscape

Demographics and public finances

Earnings and wealth inequality

The changing nature of work

Shifting risk on to individuals

Political choices, political cycles, power and adequacy

Pensions, policy and taxation

Taxation as a motivator or constraint on pensions

Taxing pensions

Constraining pension savings

Taxation as an income adequacy measure

Key issues and potential for reform

Rising costs

Automatic enrolment

Pension freedoms

Gender, ethnicity and pensions

Alternative pension approaches

7 Tax, benefits and household income

Taxes and transfers

Key taxes

Social security benefits

Different types of social security benefits

The scale of social security in the UK

Universal Credit: fulfilling the vision for a negative income tax?

Inequality of incomes in the UK

Measuring incomes

Incomes and government intervention

Direct and indirect taxes

Patterns in income inequality

Trends in Great Britain

Inequality across countries.

COVID-19, lockdowns and beyond

8 Taxation, health and social care

The dominance of taxation in the funding of the NHS

Public attitudes to raising taxes for health care

Mixed economy in social care

The use of taxation to fund the private health sector

Tax treatment and strategies for reducing tax liabilities

Taxation, inequality and the promotion of health

9 Homes, housing and taxation

Context: UK housing tenure mix and the development of a home-owning culture

Change in the make-up of the rental sector

Tax as a supply-side housing subsidy

VAT and houses

Housing development and the need for land taxation

Land and property transaction taxes

A tax bias towards owners? Demand-side incentives

Mortgage Interest Relief and imputed rent

Inheritance Tax and the home

Capital Gains Tax and housing

Asset or commodity: home or investment?

Conclusion: Social policy challenges and opportunities for change

10 Wealth taxation: the case for reform

The UK's current 'system' of wealth taxation

The case for reforming and increasing wealth taxation

Barriers to reforming and increasing wealth taxes

A way forward for wealth tax reform in the UK

11 Gender and taxation

Independent taxation

Gender Responsive Budgeting

The focus of Gender Responsive Budgeting in the UK

Gender responsive versus gender blind?

Principles of gender budgeting

Examine effects on a range on inequalities

Include effects on unpaid work as well as paid employment

Consider effects on different types of households.

Consider effects on individuals as well as households

Look at effects over the life course

Look intersectionally wherever relevant

Consider effects on the provision and receipt of care

Look at interrelated policies together

The societal functions of tax

Macroeconomic management

Funding public spending

Societal cohesion

Specific taxes and tax allowances

Taxing income

Taxing wealth and property

Taxing companies

Taxing expenditure

Tax reliefs

12 Taxation and local taxes

Local taxation in the UK

Council tax

Local taxation and social policy

Business rates

Options for reform of local taxation

Reform of council tax

Local income tax

Land value tax

A new local property tax

13 Corporate tax and corporate welfare

Corporate taxes are complex and contested

Corporate power and corporate taxation

Corporate tax systems are leaky

Tax avoidance in a global economy

From corporate tax to corporate welfare

Competing for capital through the tax system

Tax avoidance and tax evasion

14 The climate crisis and taxation

The development of UK environment-related taxation

UK environment-related taxation

Explicit environmental taxes

The Climate Change Levy

The ETS and Carbon Price Floor

The Renewables Obligation Certificate and contracts for difference

Other taxes

Implicit environmental taxes

Motor taxes

VAT on domestic fuel

Air passenger duty

Quasi-taxes

Energy Savings Obligations

Tax relief

The distributive impact of UK environment-related taxation: data and methods.

The distributive impact of explicit and implicit environment-related taxation on households

Motoring-related taxes

Domestic energy taxes

Quasi-taxes and impact of environment-related business taxes on households

Overall distributive impact of UK environment-related taxes on households

15 Conclusions: Taxation in a social policy context

The multiple interactions of tax and social policy

The policy-making significance of structural inequalities

The political context of taxation and social policy

The need for wider discussion

Moving forward

Expanding social policy views of taxation

Missed issues and opportunities

Concluding thoughts

Postscript

Index.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 19 Jan 2024).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4473-6419-8

1-4473-6421-X

1-4473-6420-1

OCLC:

1381093824