# How to fix income tax

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/how-to-fix-income-tax
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/how-to-fix-income-tax.md
Podcast: [IFS Zooms In: The Economy](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796)
Published: 2025-10-21T13:51:02+00:00
Episode link: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/e/68f783c08125b849f80cca55/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/episodes/how-to-fix-income-tax
Duration seconds: 2607

## Resource

In the first episode of our new mini-series on how to fix the UK’s tax system, Helen is joined by Stuart Adam and Ben Zaranko to explore income tax - the cornerstone of government revenue, and one of the most confusing parts of our system. Why do we have two separate taxes on earnings? Why do odd kinks and cliff edges exist that distort behaviour? And what would a well-designed income tax actually look like? This episode dives deep into the structure of income tax and National Insurance, revealing how small design flaws create big inefficiencies - and what we can do to fix them. Become a member: https://ifs.org.uk/individual-membership Find out more: https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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## Transcript

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