So the budget really is regressive
Shortly after the Chancellor set out his emergency budget, I did a series of blog postings arguing that the measures were not progressive as claimed but regressive, that is that they will hit the poor harder than the rich.
Now we have confirmation of this from the widely-respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS). In a new, comprehensive analysis, the IFS concludes:
“Once all of the benefit cuts are considered, the tax and benefit changes announced in the emergency budget are clearly regressive as, on average, they hit the poorest households more than those in the upper middle of the income distribution in cash, let alone percentage, terms.”
The Institute states that the poorest 10% of families will lose over 5% of their income as a result of the budget compared with a loss of less than 1% for non-pensioner households without children in the richest 10% of households.
Further detail here.