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Even for liberal HBO host Bill Maher, the math behind Tax Day no longer adds up.

Maher took to his platform on “Real Time” to sound the alarm on a staggering personal tax burden that he says claims the majority of his earnings, sparking a wider debate on whether the American government is simply “incompetent and corrupt” despite a $5 trillion revenue stream.

“Last week was Tax Day… I paid to the government, if you add in state tax, local, sales, property, fees, Obamacare, probably almost 60% of what I earn. That’s a lot,” Maher said on a recent episode.

“I still wouldn’t mind if Bernie Sanders would stop saying the rich don’t pay taxes,” the host continued. “And while I’m sure the super-rich, with their army of accountants and corporate loopholes, get away with murder, us regular rich people pay a s— ton of taxes!”

CALIFORNIA BILLIONAIRE TAX NEARS BALLOT AFTER UNION COLLECTS NEARLY DOUBLE REQUIRED SIGNATURES

High-income earners in blue states like California, where Maher films his show, face some of the highest combined tax rates across the country. While Democrats often argue the biggest tax hits come from the federal income tax alone, Maher slammed the “hidden” costs that take more than half of your pay.

California ranks fifth nationally for the highest state and local tax burden, with the Tax Foundation reporting that residents lose an average of 13.5% of their total income to taxes.

“The top 10% pay 72% of all federal income taxes, and the bottom half, 3%,” Maher noted, with his cited numbers backed by a Tax Foundation analysis of 2022 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data.

“The Democratic socialists talk about socialism like we don’t already have a lot… Not against it, just the same question — how can you be soaking the rich and failing the poor so badly?” he said.

The HBO host further questioned where the money is actually going, pointing to the reliance on charities like Remote Area Medical (RAM) to provide basic care, like dental and medical, that the government — despite its trillions in revenue — is failing to deliver.

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“How can it be that the federal government alone took in over $5 trillion in taxes last year and we still need that? Are we really this incompetent and corrupt?”

“The ultra-rich keep getting ultra-richer,” Maher said. “[Those with] their army of accountants and corporate loopholes [can often find ways to shrink their tax bills].”

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Shares of PSU major Coal India rose as much as 3.4% to their day’s high of Rs 468 on the BSE on Tuesday after the company reported a stable performance for the March quarter, with consolidated profit after tax rising 12% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 10,908 crore. Revenue from operations increased 6% to Rs 46,490 crore, supported by better realisations and higher other income.

Profit before tax for the quarter stood at Rs 14,627 crore, up 12% from Rs 13,070 crore a year earlier, reflecting steady operating performance despite cost pressures. Total income rose 8% to Rs 51,618 crore during the quarter.

EBITDA grew 12% to Rs 17,917 crore, while margins improved to 39% from 36% in the corresponding period last year, indicating stronger operating leverage.

Revenue growth was mainly driven by higher realisations, even as sales volumes remained largely unchanged. Average realisation per tonne rose 6% YoY to Rs 2,290, while total sales volume slipped around 1% to 198.83 million tonnes.

Coal India share price: Should you buy, sell or hold?

Jefferies retained its Buy rating on Coal India with a target price of Rs 500, an upside of 10%. The brokerage stated improving earnings visibility and supportive global coal trends as major factors for the raised target price.

The Wall Street major noted that international thermal coal prices remained rangebound at $95-$115 between January 2025 and February 2026, but have since rallied about 18% from mid-February. Higher global prices are expected to support domestic e-auction realisations, with Jefferies building in e-auction prices of Rs 3,000-Rs 3,200 for FY27-28, compared with Rs 2,907 in the March quarter.
Jefferies has raised its FY27-28 EPS estimates by 2-4%. After a 12% decline in EPS over FY24-26, the brokerage expects earnings to recover, projecting a 5% EPS CAGR over FY26-28.Coal India is currently trading at around 9.3 times FY27E adjusted price-to-earnings, excluding stripping activity adjustments, which is broadly in line with its long-term average of 9.2 times. The stock also offers an attractive dividend yield of about 6%.

Morgan Stanley has maintained its Equal-weight rating on Coal India with a target price of Rs 410, implying a 10% downside, even as the company reported a better-than-expected quarterly performance. EBITDA came in around 6% above its estimates, while adjusted EBITDA, excluding OBR, was nearly 8% ahead of forecasts.

On volumes, FSA sales declined about 4% year-on-year but still came in ahead of estimates. E-auction volumes rose 28% year-on-year, though they remained below expectations. FSA realisations increased around 6% year-on-year, supported by a better grade mix, while e-auction realisations fell about 2% YoY.

HSBC has maintained its Hold rating on the stock with a target price of Rs 440. The brokerage said 4QFY26 earnings came in ahead of expectations, largely driven by higher other income, though restated numbers have made year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter comparisons difficult.

However, it believes elevated inventory levels could limit e-auction premiums going forward and flagged the risk of a significant cost increase if diesel prices rise. HSBC added that Coal India currently lacks near-term earnings catalysts due to an oversupplied domestic coal market, although the stock’s dividend yield continues to support valuations.

Motilal Oswal has maintained its Buy rating on Coal India with a target price of Rs 530, implying a 17% upside from current levels. Analysts expect a volume CAGR of around 4% over FY26-FY28E, with a higher share of e-auction sales likely to support net sales realisation and margins.

The brokerage also highlighted Coal India’s focus on expanding coal-washer capacity to strengthen market share in both coking and non-coking coal segments. Additionally, future expansion in coal mining operations is expected to be funded through internal accruals.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

The Tony Blair Institute has called on ministers to pull an “emergency handbrake” on Britain’s runaway sickness benefits bill, urging Whitehall to strip cash entitlements from claimants with mild depression, ADHD and other conditions the think tank argues are compatible with work.

In an intervention that will land squarely on the desks of finance directors and HR chiefs across the country, the institute founded by Sir Tony Blair has proposed a new statutory category of “non-work limiting conditions” covering anxiety, stress-related disorders, lower back pain, common musculoskeletal complaints and certain neurodevelopmental conditions. Claimants would receive treatment and employment support in place of benefits, in a shift the TBI insists could be introduced without primary legislation.

The proposals arrive at a critical moment for British employers. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast in March that spending on health and sickness benefits for working-age adults will hit £78.1bn by 2029-30, a 15 per cent jump on this year’s outlay. With around 1,000 people a day becoming newly eligible for health and disability payments, business groups have grown increasingly vocal about the squeeze on the labour market and the corresponding drag on productivity.

The TBI’s report lands in awkward political territory for the Labour government, which last year tabled plans to tighten disability benefit eligibility only to gut its own proposals after a backbench revolt. Whitehall now points to a review led by Social Security Minister Sir Stephen Timms, expected to report later this year, as the vehicle for any further reform.

Dr Charlotte Refsu, a former GP and the institute’s director of health policy, said the welfare system was “drawing too many people into long-term dependency for conditions that are often treatable and compatible with work, and not doing enough to support recovery”. She added: “A system that leaves people on benefits without timely treatment or a route back to work is not compassionate. It is bad for the country and bad for people’s health.”

Under the TBI blueprint, every claimant would require a formal diagnosis before applying for benefits, and those already on the books would face more frequent and rigorous reassessment. The think tank stopped short of estimating either fiscal savings or the number of claimants who would lose entitlement, but argued any windfall should be ploughed back into employment support and NHS treatment for mental health and musculoskeletal conditions, the two clusters that have driven much of the post-pandemic surge in claims.

YouGov polling of more than 4,000 British adults, commissioned by the institute, found that 54 per cent of voters believe the welfare system is too easy to access and fails to prevent misuse, a finding likely to embolden ministers minded to revisit reform.

For SME owners contending with stubborn vacancies and rising employment costs, the report sharpens a debate that has been simmering in boardrooms since the pandemic. Smaller employers have repeatedly flagged the difficulty of recruiting from the economically inactive cohort, particularly the more than 2.8 million working-age people currently signed off long-term sick. The TBI argues that supporting claimants into “appropriate work” would not only ease the fiscal pressure but also reduce social isolation and improve mobility and independence, a framing that aligns with the back-to-work rhetoric increasingly heard from both Labour ministers and the Conservative and Reform UK opposition.

The proposals have, however, drawn fierce criticism from the disability sector. Jon Holmes, chief executive of the learning disability charity Scope, branded the report “deeply unhelpful and ill-informed”, arguing it ignored “the lived reality of people with a learning disability and plays to a populist trope about welfare”. He warned: “Slapping labels on people and denying them benefits will not tackle the root cause. It will push people into deeper anxiety, misery and poverty. That’s not reform, it’s a recipe for making things worse.”

The Department for Work and Pensions said it had already “rebalanced” Universal Credit to deliver £1bn of savings, with the health-related element for new claimants cut by up to 50 per cent earlier this month. A spokesperson said the department had “increased face-to-face assessments and improved use of NHS evidence, all while ensuring those who genuinely can’t work are always protected”, adding that ministers would “consider the TBI’s report”.

For Britain’s small and medium-sized employers, the question is no longer whether reform comes, but how quickly, and whether it will deliver the workforce uplift that has eluded successive administrations.

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Jonas Gustafsson
Chief Executive Officer

Good morning, everyone, and a warm welcome to this 2026 Q1 release call for Hemnet Group. My name is Jonas Gustafsson, and I’m the Group CEO of Hemnet.

With me here on my side today at our headquarters in Stockholm, I have our Chief Financial Officer, Anders Ornulf; and our Head of Investor Relations, Ludvig Segelmark.

As usual, we will go through the presentation that was published on our website earlier this morning during today’s session. I will kick it off with a summary of the main highlights during the first quarter. Thereafter, Anders Ornulf will cover the financial details before I come back in the end to wrap up today’s session.

As always, there will be opportunities to ask questions at the end of the presentation. Today’s session will be moderated by our operator, so please follow the operator’s instructions to ask questions through the provided dial-in details.

So with that, let’s get started, and let’s move on to the next slide, please. Net sales declined by 24.7% in Q1, driven by weak listing volumes throughout the first quarter. Sales were also negatively impacted by a timing shift in revenue recognition related to the rollout in the new commercial proposition and payment model — Sell First, Pay Later — in which we recognize revenues first when properties are sold.