The U.K. government is loathe to admit it, but economists say it’s highly likely that the Treasury will have to hike taxes in the fall if it is to bung a black hole in the public finances that it has effectively created for itself. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is the latest economic think tank to warn that taxes would have to rise later this year if British Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to meet her self-imposed “fiscal rules.” These rules target both a balanced or budget surplus by the end of the decade — with the so-called “stability rule” requiring that day-to-day spending is funded ... (full story)