Missing Incomes in the UK: Evidence and Policy Implications

Journal of Social Policy - Tập 53 Số 2 - Trang 386-406 - 2024
Arun Advani1, Tahnee Ooms2, Andy Summers3
1University of Warwick Economics Department, Warwick University & Research Fellow, Institute for Fiscal Studies, Warwick, UK
2LSE International Inequalities Institute, London, UK
3LSE Law School, London, UK

Tóm tắt

AbstractPolicymakers are liable to ‘treasure what is measured’ and overlook phenomena that are not. In an era of increased reliance on administrative data, existing policies also often determine what is measured in the first place. We explore this two-way interaction between measurement and policy in the context of the investment incomes and capital gains that are missing from the UK’s official income statistics. We show that these ‘missing incomes’ change the established picture of economic inequality over the past decade, revealing rising top income shares during the period of austerity. The underestimation of these forms of income in official statistics has hidden the impact of tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest. We urge a renewed focus on how policy affects and is affected by measurement.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.2307/j.ctt9qgww0

Advani, A. , Summers, A. and Tarrant, H. (2021). What has been happening to UK Top Incomes?. CAGE Working Paper No. 490.

10.1111/ecca.12217

BBC. (2017). Reality Check: Has inequality been getting worse? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38570809

Sunak, R. (2020). March 2020 Budget Speech. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/budget-speech-2020

Titmuss, 1962, Income Distribution and Social Change

10.1111/sjoe.12148

Advani, A. and Summers, A. (2020b). How much tax do the rich really pay? New evidence from tax microdata in the UK. CAGE Policy Briefing No. 27.

Brewer, 2019, Top incomes in the UK: analysis of the 2015-16 Survey of Personal Incomes. ISER, Working Paper Series, 2019

Cribb, 2019, Who are business owners and what are they doing?

10.1093/qje/qjx043

Worrall, P. (2016). The surprising truth about inequality. https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-surprising-truth-inequality

Burkhauser, 2018, Top incomes and inequality in the UK: reconciling estimates from household survey and tax return data, Oxford Economic Papers, 1

10.1111/j.1475-4991.2011.00475.x

Webber, D. and Beha, O. (2020). Top income adjustment in effects of taxes and benefits data: methodology. ONS Compendium, 1–17.

Nolan, B. , Palomino, J. , Van Kerm, P. and Morelli, S. (2020), “The wealth of families: The intergenerational transmission of wealth in Britain in comparative perspective”, Nuffield Foundation and INET at the Oxford Martin School.

Thompson, J. (2019). Sir Jonathan Thompson to Meg Hillier MP. 30 April 2019. https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/commons-committees/public-accounts/Correspondence/2017-19/Letter-from-Sir-Jonathan-to-Chair-in-response-to-report-on-HMRCs-Performance-in-17-18-recommendation-13-and-4-190430.pdf

10.1007/s10888-018-9388-8

10.1017/S1474746420000123

Corlett, A. (2021). Improving our understanding of UK poverty will require better data. Resolution Foundation Spotlight Report.

10.1017/S147474642000010X

Berman, 2018, The Sociology of Quantification: Where Are We Now?, Contemporary Sociology, 47, 257, 10.1177/0094306118767649

10.1111/1475-5890.12158

10.1017/S0047279400003998

Advani, A. , Corlett, A. and Summers, A. (2020). Who gains? The importance of accounting for capital gains. Resolution Foundation Report.

Titmuss, 1958, Essays on ‘the Welfare State’

2011, Canberra Group Handbook on Household Income Statistics

10.1177/0038038517698639

Department for Work and Pensions. (2018). Households Below Average Income (HBAI) Quality and Methodology Information Report – 2016/17. HBAI Quality and Methodology Information Report. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/437251/households-below-average-income-quality-methodology-2013-14.pdf

Ooms, 2021, Correcting the Underestimation of Capital Incomes in Inequality Indicators: with an Application to the UK, 1997-2016, Social Indicators Research, 1

Hood, A. and Waters, T. (2017). Incomes and inequality: the last decade and the next parliament. IFS Briefing Note BN202. https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN202.pdf.

10.1017/S0047279406000377

Tawney, 1913, Inaugural lecture on poverty as an industrial problem reproduced in memorandum on the problems of poverty

Jenkins, S. (2021). Top-Income Adjustments and Official Statistics on Income Distribution: The Case of the UK. IZA Discussion Paper 14951.

HM Revenue and Customs. (2021). Income Tax Liabilities Statistics: tax year 2018 to 2019 to tax year 2021 to 2022: Supporting Documentation.

10.1017/S0047279412000761

Hammond, P. (2017). Autumn Budget 2017 Speech. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/autumn-budget-2017-philip-hammonds-speech.

Miller, 2019, Low rates of capital gains tax on business income lead to large tax savings but do not boost investment

Alvaredo, F. (2017). UK estimates of top income shares 2013-2014 and 2014-2015: Note on methods. WID.world Technical Note Series.

Atkinson, 2019, A Different Perspective on the Evolution of UK Income Inequality, The Review of Income and Wealth, 66, 253, 10.1111/roiw.12412

Haig, 1921, The Federal Income Tax, 1

Simons, 1938, Personal Income Taxation: The definition of income as a problem of fiscal policy

Osborne, G. (2015) Summer Budget 2015 Speech. https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/chancellor-george-osbornes-summer-budget-2015-speech

Advani, A. and Summers, A. (2020a). Capital Gains and UK Inequality. CAGE Working Paper No. 465.

Anand, 2015, Handbook of Income Distribution

HM Treasury. (2020). The Green Book: Central Government Guidance on Appraisal and Evaluation.

10.1017/S0003975609000150

10.31235/osf.io/j23pn

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Journal of Social Policy

Tập 53 Số 2

386-406

Thông tin tác giả