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Pension Schemes, Taxation and Stakeholder Wealth: The USS Rule Changes

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  • Emmanouil Platanakis

    (School of Management, University of Bath)

  • Charles Sutcliffe

    (ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading,)

Abstract

Although tax relief on pensions is a controversial area of government expenditure, this is the first study of the tax effects of a real world defined benefit pension scheme - the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). First, we estimate the tax and national insurance contribution (NIC) effects of the rule changes in 2011 on the gross and net wealth of the sponsor, government, and 16 age cohorts of members, deferred pensioners and pensioners. Second, we measure the size of the twelve income tax and NIC payments and reliefs for members and the sponsor, both before and after the rule changes. We find the total subsidy split is roughly: 40% income tax subsidy; 30% member' NIC subsidy; and 30% sponsor NIC subsidy. However government proposals for reform have concentrated exclusively on the income tax relief, neglecting the substantially larger NIC relief, possibly because they have overestimated the size of the income tax relief.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanouil Platanakis & Charles Sutcliffe, 2017. "Pension Schemes, Taxation and Stakeholder Wealth: The USS Rule Changes," ICMA Centre Discussion Papers in Finance icma-dp2017-08, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:icmadp:icma-dp2017-08
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pension schemes; Taxation; Subsidy; National Insurance Contributions; Universities Superannuation Scheme; Redistribution; Rule changes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G22 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Insurance; Insurance Companies; Actuarial Studies
    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • J32 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Nonwage Labor Costs and Benefits; Retirement Plans; Private Pensions

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