[wdmmg-discuss] UK tax and cuts

Mon Jun 14 11:00:15 UTC 2010

Lisa,  the data here

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AonYZs4MzlZbdHZFSk80Rl9Ma2xJUDlrRWN3R3ljbkE&gid=0

seems to be highly relevant to the project, in terms of working out 
how large the tax rises/cuts need to be to balance the books

reported here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/jun/14/office-budget-responsibility-report-forecasts-gdp

Tim

----

At 22:58 +0100 13/6/10, Lisa Evans wrote:
>I was hoping you'd add more Tim, thank you.
>
>I've come up with three methods for making a list of spending cut choices.
>
>1. We could start from the list of results from Chop or Not
>(http://chopornot.channel4.com/) and use the costings that channel 4 used.
>
>2. We could look for items on COINS that represent a likely selection.
>
>3. We categorise types of spending in COINS and allow people to 'drill
>down' into those categories of spending and allow more details of the type
>of spending so people can choose if they would want to cut this spending
>or not. The way COINS is organised by different National Account Codes
>that are listed in Annex B of the COINS guidance, might be a good
>categorisation to start with. Or maybe COFOG is a better starting point.
>
>Other suggestions are most welcome. Let me know what you think.
>
>Lisa
>
>On Fri, 11 Jun 2010, Tim Hubbard wrote:
>
>>  To follow up on Lisa's email:
>>
>>  At 16:25 +0100 11/6/10, Lisa Evans wrote:
>>  >We have an exciting new project!
>>  >
>>  >With the emergency budget consultation, we are planning a simple
>>  >interactive tool that will show the consequences of tax increases
>>  >and cuts.
>>  >
>>  >The idea, and all of the work so far, is from Dr Tim Hubbard.
>>  >Would other people like to join this little research team to get
>>  >this up and running in time?
>>
>>  To give an idea of what has been so far - I've been working on a
>>  spreadsheet modelling the different types of UK taxation, so that its
>>  possible to increase income tax or national insurance or capital
>>  gains and see how that effects individuals in different income bands
>>  and the total amount raised in a year.  Of course the figures are
>>  going to be rough, but already its possible to see how much its would
>>  be necessary to raise taxes to make a significant impact on the
>>  deficit for example.  Lisa is similarly modelling the effect of cuts.
>>  The idea is to build a website around this data where people can play
>>  around with the controls and try and balence the UK budget, making
>>  their choice between cuts and tax rises.
>>
>>  The aim is to start simple with a static model...it could be made
>>  progressively more realistic over time (if it can be worked out how)
>>  with feedback loops, change over time etc.
>>
>>  One key issue is that if this is to influence the current political
>>  debate - and I think there's a real chance to do this, given OKFs
>>  profile with http://www.wheredoesmymoneygo.org/ and data.gov.uk - the
>>  site needs to be built really, really fast...
>>
>>  >We need:
>>  >
>>  >- suggestions for cuts
>>  >- ways we can measure if the effects of the changes will be good
>>  >enough - advice on taxation
>>  >- suggestions for a name for the project
>>
>>  ...and a catchy name would be really good!
>>
>>  following on from wheredoesmymoneygo might be
>>
>>  www.howwouldicutthedeficit.org (hwictd)
>>
>>  although its a bit long
>>
>>  or something completely different and shorter
>>
>>  www.selfgov.org (domain is taken though)
>>
>>  ideas?
>>
>>
>>  Best wishes,
>>
>>  Tim
>>


-- 
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Dr Tim Hubbard                         email: th at sanger.ac.uk
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute        Tel (direct): +44 1223 496886
Wellcome Trust Genome Campus           Tel (switch): +44 1223 834244
Hinxton, Cambridgeshire. CB10 1SA.     Fax: +44 1223 496802
URL: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/faculty/thubbard/
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