Tax wealth to help the young: The intergenerational fairness case for a wealth tax

Why do political parties shy away from taxing wealth in the UK when, according to this report, at least £18 billion could be raised each year if governments introduced a moderate wealth tax that would affect just 1% of the population? Where taxes come from is increasingly an intergenerational fairness issue. This research demonstrates that… Read more »

Play fair: Equalising the taxation of earned and unearned income

This report explains how the government could more fairly tax earned and unearned income: The current UK tax regime strongly favours unearned income over earned income. This has led to a tax system that is both unfair and inefficient. It also means that the young and those people who receive their income from employment pay… Read more »

Downsize your energy bills: Moving to a smaller home cuts energy bills

This report analyses house type, age, under-occupation and energy consumption and compares different downsizing scenarios and energy costs in order to help older generations to appreciate the energy savings they could make from downsizing. Key findings: Downsizing from larger to smaller homes in England could save 8 million homeowners up to £5,000 a year in… Read more »

Trains over planes: Why the government should encourage domestic train travel

This report argues that, on intergenerational justice grounds, the British government should be following France’s lead over banning domestic flights with a rail equivalent journey of 4.5 hours or less, by encouraging greater domestic train travel rather than air travel on mainland Britain. Key findings: Travel by train is seven times more environmentally friendly than… Read more »

The Savings Squeeze: Young people locked out from the benefits of saving

  This report uses data from the Wealth & Assets Survey in order to look at the reasons behind the inability for young people to be able to save. Key findings: Young people would like to invest and save in property, but over the last decade the proportion of young people with zero property wealth… Read more »

3 Million Pensioner Millionaires: identifying the numbers

This research is an update to IF’s 2012 pensioner millionaires research, and looks at pensioner wealth according to latest available data from the Office for National Statistic’s Wealth and Assets Survey. Key Findings: Great Britain now has more than 3 million over-65s living in millionaire households. In 2008/10, there were 846,000 over-65s living in households… Read more »

On Borrowed Time: Future Generations and the Net Zero Transition

This report, co-produced with the Social Market Foundation, investigates the economic and moral questions surrounding how to share the costs of the Net Zero transition between generations. The paper explores how the following factors shape policymaking decisions on how much we should be spending on the Net Zero transition: Moral attitudes to future generations Prospects… Read more »

Packhorse Generation: The new tax burdens forced onto young people by inflation

This report investigates how the government has got around a manifesto promise not to raise taxes. The paper explains how the government has instead introduced taxation by stealth which is falling largely on younger people. It explains how younger generations are being stung by a combination of: Fiscal drag The freezing of income tax thresholds… Read more »