Christian Spence

Link to Sky News story: news.sky.com/story/income-t…

Budget chatter everywhere ("will she, won't she, we don't know"), but this (Sky News), is intriguing. 'Rachel Reeves is unlikely to hike these taxes because the Treasury says those earning £45,000 or less qualify as "working people".' Higher rate threshold to come down?

@thomasforth I know you've now got this, but a post here to correct the wrong link I gave last night (now deleted). This data is always here and updated as the ONS publishes it. github.com/economic-analy…

If anyone knows where I can get this data in one spreadsheet, I'd love to know.

Always high praise when @ONS rate limit me thinking I'm a bot, but I just really love national statistics.

Looking forward to this. One reason why I'm dubious about killing NI and switching it onto IT (both IFS and Mirrlees Review say we should) is that the UK has never had a proper debate about a contributory benefits system, particularly around the issue of tax morale.

@humantransit It's real. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_W…

Yes, I'm sure the thing that looks Tudor is just imitation. The real thing was way too flammable.

Did I get all of Britain's main architectural styles in one photo here? Exchange Square, Manchester.

Lots of work planned for the next few months, including a set of blogs on taxation reform, particularly around devolution, capital and property, with some live, interactive modelling included. It's good to be back! 2/2

Bonne rentrée! After the August break (and a somewhat enforced break for personal reasons in June and July), it's good to be fully back at the desk for the big push through to Christmas. 1/2

Interesting new publication from @NIESRorg today on seasonally-adjusted inflation series. niesr.ac.uk/publications/s… #Economics

🚍 A historic moment for South Yorkshire’s buses. Today, South Yorkshire’s Mayor @olivercoppard made the landmark decision to take back control of South Yorkshire’s buses, putting passengers back at the heart of our transport system. Watch the moment it happened.

Today @BBCRobertCooper piece on #TourismTax was on #BBCPoliticsNorth featuring analysis by @ChristianSpence @OpenInnovates for @NP_Partnership as part of our work on #fiscaldevo bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod… Tomorrow at 810am I’ll be joining @BBC_Cumbria breakfast show to discuss

I'm already 1½ working days into 2025, but this is my first opportunity to sit down at a desk and start the catching-up process after travelling around the snowy north for some new year meetings yesterday and today. Here's to a bustling 2025 with some interesting projects!

@LucyGoBag It was a pleasure to be your warm-up act! We should duet again soon!

@ChristianSpence - I have found my duet partner 🎵

😍

So, tonight it's going to be: ☃️snowy ❄️ cold 🍃 windy (with nippy windchill 🥶), and *checks notes* 🤷‍♂️>100% humidity.

Today to Leeds for an @ONS Local Subnational Data Conference. A nice reminder of local government past on the way in.

@AlgosJoni @Ashtonscardiff @arndalemarket No amount of octopus is too much octopus.

@ChristianSpence @Ashtonscardiff @arndalemarket That's a good 3+ kg of tentacles there. Some serious eating!

Some massive 5-6kg octopi in @Ashtonscardiff today. Apparently there will be some coming in over the next couple of weeks. Cardiff octopus lover: get yours while stocks last 😅

In Manchester today for a new @NP_Partnership paper on fiscal rules with @EYnews and hosted by @JenWilliams_FT.

Some days I love curl. Some days I hate curl. Today has been a challenging one, but the puzzle is solved.

👀 I remember when Eric Pickles said he had a pearl-handled revolver in his desk for anyone who even mentioned this.