The Autumn Budget is always a significant event in the calendar for financial markets, but that has never felt more true than this year, with investors having a laser focus on Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ spending and taxation plans. Those self-imposed “fiscal rules” — which were set in stone by Reeves last year and which she has refused to tweak — have been accompanied by higher borrowing costs, lackluster growth and U-turns on welfare spending cuts, leaving her with an estimated budget shortfall of around £20-35 billion (around $26-46 billion) and with little choice but to raise taxes to fill that fiscal hole. Tax ... (full story)