Winners of the UK Tax-Benefit Reforms over Five Decades

Abstract

Income inequality in most high-income countries has increased considerably since the 1970s, creating interest in the drivers of this trend. One factor that has attracted intense interest is the role of tax and transfer policy. There have been longstanding trends among OECD countries toward less progressive income tax rates and more targeted welfare benefits. In the case of the United Kingdom, this targeting has treated some groups within the population substantively more favourably than others. Our study uses a new empirical approach to quantify the evolution in the treatment of different types of families (for example, single adults without children, couples with children, age pensioners) ..