{"podcast":{"title":"IFS Zooms In: The Economy","slug":"ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","podcast_index_feed_id":638796,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/ifs-zooms-in-coronavirus-and-the-economy","website_url":"https://www.ifs.org.uk/podcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/1611670691757-acb69bdbfa16df8b84d3357b86921a11.jpeg","author":"Institute for Fiscal Studies","episode_count":197,"summary":"The IFS podcast about the UK economy, tax, public spending and living standards. Each week, IFS Director Helen Miller speaks to leading economists and researchers to explain the economic issues shaping the UK. Step beyond the headlines with in-depth, independent analysis from the experts at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-25T06:21:58.046264+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796"},"episode":{"title":"Are business rates 'killing the high street'?","slug":"are-business-rates-killing-the-high-street","published_at":"2026-08-27T13:37:59+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/are-business-rates-killing-the-high-street","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796","url":"https://ifs.org.uk/podcasts-explainers-and-calculators/podcasts","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/5ea004d9fbcc383829c71657/e/6a9038117ee847ae7278ca07/media.mp3","summary":"Business rates have long been blamed for the decline of Britain’s high streets. Shops and pubs face large bills, while online retailers can operate from cheaper out-of-town warehouses. So surely cutting business rates would help? Not necessarily. Helen Miller is joined by IFS tax expert Stuart Adam and Observer economics editor Ben Zaranko to explain why business rates are widely misunderstood. They discuss who really bears the cost of the tax, why cutting rates could simply lead to higher rents, whether pubs and high streets deserve special treatment, and how a growing patchwork of reliefs and exemptions has made the system increasingly complicated. They also ask what is actually wrong with business rates - and why taxing land rather than the buildings sitting on it might offer a better solution. 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.","meta_description":"Business rates have long been blamed for the decline of Britain’s high streets. Shops and pubs face large bills, while online retailers can operate from c…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2945,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/episodes/are-business-rates-killing-the-high-street/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/are-business-rates-killing-the-high-street.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}