Work and Pensions Committee – intergenerational fairness inquiry: written evidence

Publication Date

Feb 2016

Summary

Executive Summary: The overall effect of the 2010-15 Coalition Government’s tax and benefit policies was regressive ; Children were hardest hit by policy changes, along with those in their 30s and early 40s ; The greatest beneficiaries from changes to taxes were those in their early 60s, but those in their 20s also benefited ; The gains that the over-65s accrued from the “triple-lock” on pensions were partly offset by cuts to other benefits, which particularly affected older pensioners ; Looking at the picture that would emerge in 2020/21 one finds that losses suffered by children would intensify, whilst those over 65 would lose out due to loss of benefits outweighing any gains from the triple-lock ; Across Europe the elderly have tended to have larger gains (or smaller losses) – this is the case in the UK, although the indexation employed has a significant effect on outcomes.

Publication type

Parliamentary Paper

Research areas

Family and gender, Tax and benefit systems

Links

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/work-and-pensions-committee/intergenerational-fairness/written/29366.html

Notes

References: De Agostini, P., Hills, J. and Sutherland, H (2015) Were we really all in it together? The distributional effects of the 2010-2015 UK Coalition government's tax-benefit policy changes: an end-of-term update. EUROMOD Working Paper Series, 13/15. Colchester: University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research ; De Agostini, P., Paulus, A. and Tasseva, I. (2015) The effect of tax-benefit changes on the income distribution in 2008-2014. EUROMOD Working Paper Series, EM11/15. Colchester: University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research ; De Agostini, P. and Sutherland, H. (2014) EUROMOD Country Report: United Kingdom 2009-2013. Colchester: University of Essex. Institute for Social and Economic Research ; Sutherland H. and Figari, F. (2013) EUROMOD: the European Union tax-benefit microsimulation model. International Journal of Microsimulation, 6(1), 4-26.

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