Podcasts

Tax-related podcasts from IFS Zooms In: The Economy.

The stealth tax rise

To many, the start of the new tax year in April will seem quiet, more of the same with no big changes to the tax system announced by the government.

But hidden beneath the surface lie some stealthy tax rises - freezes to thresholds which coupled with rising inflation are projected to raise around £30 billion for the Treasury over the next few years and hit household finances hard.

Here to reveal the truth are Helen Miller, Head of Tax at IFS, and Tom Waters, Associate Director at IFS.

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How to tax the rich?

From non-doms to offshore investment vehicles - how the rich are taxed, and how they avoid it, has been all over the headlines.

But who are the 1%? How much tax do they pay? And should government tax them more?

Joining us are Helen Miller, Deputy Director at IFS and our Head of Tax, and Dan Neidle, Founder of Tax Policy Associates and a former tax lawyer.

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How should the government tax electric cars?

In 2030, motorists in the UK won't be able to buy fossil fuel powered vehicles from showrooms anymore. To incentivise a shift to an all-electric future, the government is giving considerable tax breaks to the owners of electric vehicles (EVs) to stimulate uptake.

However, as more and more people move away from fossil fuels, the government stands to lose billions of pounds in tax revenue - unless it decides to tax EVs.

In this episode, we speak to Stuart Adam, IFS tax expert and Steve Gooding, Director of the RAC Foundation to discuss how the government could tax EVs in future.

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How should we tax multinational corporations?

Taxing multinational corporations more fairly is often presented in the media as a no-brainer - an open goal for government to increase tax revenue and cut down on tax avoiding behaviour.

But what seems like a simple policy is in fact incredibly complicated, requiring the navigation of complex international laws and fundamental questions over types of property and where intangible assets exist.

In this episode, Paul speaks to Helen Miller, IFS Deputy Director and tax expert, and Dan Neidle, a tax lawyer specialising in corporate taxation, to get a sense of how successful international efforts to tax multinationals are.

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Can carbon taxes get us to net zero?

This week, all eyes are on the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) summit in Glasgow as world leaders meet to accelerate action on climate change. 

The UK is legally committed to reducing the net greenhouse gas emissions that arise from UK-based activities to zero by 2050, but action to reduce emissions will need to happen on a global scale to be effective. What policies should governments worldwide introduce to combat climate change? How should carbon taxes be designed to ensure a cost-efficient and fair transition to net zero?

This episode, IFS Director and Climate Change Committee member Paul Johnson is joined by Alice Pirlot, Research Fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, and IFS Associate Director Peter Levell.

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Location, location, location: how to reform council tax?

Everybody over the age of 18 who lives in a property in the UK is eligible to pay council tax. It's the fifth largest tax, raising up to £40bn a year in the UK, and it pays for local services such as social care, waste collection and libraries.

However, there is a widespread consensus that the implementation of council tax is flawed. The house prices it is based on haven't changed since 1991 despite 30 years of significant change in the housing market and these changes have made the tax regressiveA tax is regressive if tax liability increases less than in proportion to the tax base, or to income.Read more.

Joining us this week to dissect council tax and work out how we can reform it are David Phillips, Associate Director at IFS and local government expert, and John Stevenson, the Conservative MP for Carlisle who has written extensively about reforming council tax.

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Are business rates killing the high street?

Business rates are charged on non-domestic properties, such as shops, offices, pubs, factories and warehouses, and raise around 3% of the government's revenue.

At the start of the COVID pandemic, the government waived business rates for most businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors. But the tax will start again from summer. As the high street reopens, we ask what effect business rates have on our high streets, whether they should be reformed, and whether we need a new tax on online retail to level the playing field.

This week, we speak with Helen Miller, IFS tax expert, and Helen Dickinson, CEO of the British Retail Consortium.

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Taxing times ahead? When and how to raise taxes

The coronavirus pandemic has brought new and severe pressures on the UK economy. 

The challenge now facing Her Majesty’s Treasury will be how to balance the need for increasing revenues through taxes with stimulating much-needed economic growth. 

This week, our host and IFS Director Paul Johnson speaks to Helen Miller, Deputy Director of the IFS and expert on tax policy, to discuss how the Treasury might raise revenues in the future and how our current tax system can be reformed.

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