• Taxation in the UK
• Tax advantages
• Who pays tax?
• I live outside the UK
• Fuel tax
• Value Added Tax
• Corporate tax
• Income tax
• National insurance tax
• Capital gains tax

As the government determines all the rate of taxes in a country it also has to possibility to use it as an instrument to affect economic or socio-economic conditions. Besides the primarily aim of tax, collecting a revenue for the state, it can also stimulate or reduce some tax related activities which might be an important issue for the state or the economy.

A tax advantage is usually used to stimulate certain activities in the economic sector, it can be used for attracting businesses by offering lower corporate taxes or full tax exemption for a set period of time. It is usual that at a time of an economic recession the government attracts individuals for business by giving a tax advantage in some form of a reduced contribution.
This type of advantage is also used to attract people for certain investments and retirement plans or pension schemes.

By having a tax advantage on pension contribution government encourage people to put their money in this sort of investment for retirement rather than choosing an other type. On the top of this they also offer tax advantages for the monthly pensions after retirement to encourage joing to funds more.