government finances

Tomorrow, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will present his Autumn Statement to the Commons. For a government down in the polls, it may offer the opportunity for giveaways - and the Prime Minister says his government “can and will” cut taxes. But, with an economic recovery precarious, and coming before a general election next year, could a future Labour government be left paying the bill?

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Guest: Mehreen Khan, Economics Editor, The Times.

Host: Manveen Rana.

Get in touch: storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.uk

Clips: ITV, Sky News, Reuters, BBC News, David Boothroyd.

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Democrats and Republicans are confident they can pass a deal to avert a US debt default, the lira slides after Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is re-elected, and ageing populations are causing government credit ratings to take a hit. 

Mentioned in this podcast:

Debt ceiling fight shifts to Congress as lawmakers prepare for first votes

Turkey’s lira weakens as economists warn of economic challenge

Ageing populations ‘already hitting’ governments’ credit ratings

The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Katie McMurran, Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tax season may be over, but we aren’t done talking about taxes. Will free tax filing ever become a reality? We’ll get into the upcoming fight over free filing along with what taxes have to do with the debt ceiling debate and an unusual political fundraising operation. Plus, the daring plan to rescue a “Great Observatory” in space makes us smile.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Tax Prep Company Intuit Ramps Up Lobbying Ahead Of Free File Fight” from Huffpost
• Debt limit letter from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen
• Tweet from @davidmwessel about Treasury cash balance projections
• “How to Raise $89 Million in Small Donations, and Make It Disappear” from The New York Times
• “IRS tests free e-filing system that could compete with tax-prep giants” from The Washington Post
• “What to Know About TurboTax Before You File Your Taxes This Year” from ProPublica
• “A private company has an audacious plan to rescue NASA’s last ‘Great Observatory'” from ArsTechnica
• Mastodon thread from @thomasconnor on the Spitzer telescope
• “Ahead of next Starship launch, SpaceX hires key NASA human spaceflight head” from TechCrunch

Is there something that you want to know about the debt limit? Call us with your questions. We’re at 508-UB-SMART or email makemesmart@marketplace.org.

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