Event

What makes a good UK tax system?

This event hosted by UK think tank NIESR discusses what constitutes good taxation in terms of design, administration, and simplification.

Join us for a panel discussion, organized in collaboration with the Society of Professional Economists,  examining the principles of effective tax policy in the UK. Following the Spring Budget, Paul Johnson (former Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies) and Nichola Ross Martin (President, Chartered Institute of Taxation) will discuss what constitutes good taxation in terms of design, administration, and simplification. The session will explore practical perspectives from both economic analysis and professional practice.

Paul Johnson was Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies from 2011 until 2025, when he became Provost of Queen’s College, Oxford. He is also a senior adviser at Frontier Economics, a columnist for The Times and a regular contributor to other broadcast and print media. Paul published The Sunday Times bestseller Follow the Money in 2023. “Gripping and horrifying…witty and brilliant” according to the Times. For 11 years he was a member of the UK Climate Change Committee and has served on the council of the ESRC and of the Royal Economic Society. Paul was appointed CBE in the 2018 birthday honours for services to the social sciences and economics. He holds honorary doctorates from UCL and the universities of Exeter, Sussex, and York. He is an Honorary Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. He is a visiting professor at UCL and at York University.

Nichola Ross Martin is the President of the CIOT. She is the founder and former managing director of the Rossmartin.co.uk online tax resources and the Virtual Tax Partner support service. She is now a tax consultant with 2020 Innovation, a lecturer, write and web innovator. She is a specialist in owner managed business taxes, reorganisations and reconstructions, share schemes, tax appeals and investigations.

The discussion will be chaired by NIESR Director David Aikman.