Archive for category Tax and Spend
Britain isn’t a business (but thankfully businesses aren’t like Britain)
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Tax and Spend on 13/01/2012
Yesterday on The New York Times online and today in the print edition, economist Paul Krugman discussed why ‘America Isn’t a Corporation’. Krugman makes a number of interesting points that all politicians would do well to remember, however, he perhaps fails to explain one of the most important reasons that a state is not a corporation: that it is not exposed to competitive pressures.
House, Degree, Life or Pension?
Posted by Nigel Williams in Economics, Social Security, Tax and Spend on 10/10/2011
This is the last of a short series on the subject of pensions. In an earlier post, I considered the situation of a low-wage earner saving in order to preserve a constant income after retirement. I now present a final example to illustrate the retirement planning of someone further up the income scale.
How Big was Gordon Brown’s Raid on Pensions?
Posted by Nigel Williams in Economics, Tax and Spend on 03/10/2011
When people mention personal pensions, Gordon Brown and the Dividend Tax Credit get mentioned soon afterwards. This note takes a look at how big an effect that change in taxation had on individual pensions.
Want to see a dramatic increase in homelessness? Just add rent control
Posted by Nick Cowen in Economics, Tax and Spend on 27/09/2011
A Guest post by Peter Morgan over at LeftFootForward offers a real blast from the past. He suggests introducing price controls on rental properties. His theory is that this will act as a simple transfer of wealth from property owners to renters (who spend more of their income), thus stimulating the economy far better than quantitative easing. Well-intentioned as this idea is, few other measures would be more likely to punish low-income renters.
A bad day to release good news
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, European Union, Politics, Tax and Spend on 19/09/2011
Today news emerged that Jaguar Land Rover plans to invest £335 million to build low-emission engines at a site near Wolverhampton. The proposed investment is expected to directly create approximately 750 jobs, with many more indirectly created in the supply chain and wider economy. Such news is welcome, but perhaps overshadowed by the economic gloom, which was propounded today when the Financial Times reported that there is likely to be a £12 billion hole in the UK’s public finances for 2011-12.
A bigger pie or a bigger slice?
Posted by Stephen Clarke in Economics, Politics, Social Cohesion, Tax and Spend on 06/06/2011
Today saw the release, and discussion, of a number of interesting barometers, all purporting to shed light on some of the maladies afflicting Britain. While the TUC published its study on the stagnation of wages for low and middle earners, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) released its analysis of Britain’s declining industrial competitiveness. Can these analyses, from across the political spectrum, be reconciled?
