{"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":"How to fix income tax","slug":"how-to-fix-income-tax","published_at":"2025-10-21T13:51:02+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/how-to-fix-income-tax","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/68f783c08125b849f80cca55/media.mp3","summary":"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.","meta_description":"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…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2607,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ifs-zooms-in-the-economy-638796/episodes/how-to-fix-income-tax/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/how-to-fix-income-tax.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}