Why was today's date circled in your calendar again?

Marketplace All-in-One

Marketplace

News, Business

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's Tax Day today! While your taxes may be due, you can file for an extension — and the extension is automatic for some this year. We'll discuss more with Nina Olson of the Center for Taxpayer Rights and learn how taxpayers might run into the effects of IRS budget cuts and hiring freezes. But first: Water bills keep going up, and the Trump administration is signaling tariffs ahead for imported pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Every few hours, it seems, tariffs get tweaked. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. Tech stocks shot upward yesterday after the White House gave at least a temporary reprieve from the highest tariffs on imported smartphones and other consumer electronics. Then later yesterday, President Trump indicated he might do the same on tariffs for cars, trucks, and auto parts.
0:22.8	At the same time, the administration is signaling higher tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals and semiconductor chips.
0:29.9	Marketplaces Nova Safo has an update.
0:32.4	The COVID pandemic exposed weaknesses in the global supply chains for drugs and computer chips.
0:38.1	To rectify that the Biden administration opted for incentives, more carrot than stick,
0:43.4	the bipartisan chips act spurred more semiconductor plant investments in the U.S.
0:47.4	The administration also took steps to boost drug manufacturing.
0:51.2	President Trump is taking the stick approach.
0:55.7	He previously indicated that pharmaceuticals and computer chips may be next in line for tariffs, and the Commerce Department
1:01.1	took a step in that direction yesterday. It posted notices on the Federal Register that it is
1:06.8	launching investigations into those imports and their impacts on national security.
1:12.1	But imposing additional taxes on drug and chip imports could put further pressure on consumer prices.
1:19.1	Right now, the average effective tariff rate in the U.S. is the highest since 1903 at 27 percent, according to the Yale Budget Lab.
1:27.9	The group calculates the average cost is already $4,700 a year for each American household.
1:35.3	I'm Nova Saffa for Marketplace.
1:36.9	Something generally not imported water service to your home, but many water bills are way up.
1:42.4	A new report from Bank of America Institute says in the
1:45.3	past year, the average water bill has risen at nearly twice the rate of inflation up more than
1:49.9	7%. Marketplace's Kaylee Wells has that. There are two big causes. Economist Taylor Bowley with the
1:57.0	Bank of America Institute says the first is climate. Drought conditions were particularly high in the third quarter of 2024.
2:07.8	And the second is what Eric Olson with the Natural Resources Defense Council calls ancient infrastructure.
2:13.5	A lot of our water treatment systems date back to the early 1900s.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 1 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Marketplace, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Marketplace and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.