Another week, another highly-paid public sector worker returns to work after supposedly retiring with a massive pension payout. John Geates, a police chief, has resumed his role as Director of the Scottish Police College in Fife just 24 hours after leaving with a £300,000 lump sum. Mr Geates (aged 49) will also be entitled to an annual pension of over £55,000 a year when he turns 55. Even then, he will still be able to continue his job on full pay. And all of this apparently on top of a taxpayer-funded residence in Tulliallan Castle. Continue Reading

A number of councils in England have announced that they will hike Council Tax at a time when many residents are struggling with the rising cost of living. So far 30 local authorities are choosing to reject an offer of extra money to help fund a freeze this year and are instead passing the burden entirely onto local residents. Council Tax is second only to VAT as the most burdensome tax for the poorest households. Most local authorities have chosen to freeze rates while some, like the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, have chosen to help local families by cutting rates.A number are proposing the highest possible increase in tax while dodging a referendum by keeping the increase to no more than 3.5 per cent (the threshold for a referendum). Continue Reading

The Taxpayers Association of Europe is an umbrella organisation for twenty-nine national taxpayer associations – including the TaxPayers’ Alliance.  Yesterday the organisation put out a furious new release calling on “national governments to refuse the creation of an ESM” as it involves “incalculable risks for taxpayers”.  It is a powerful reminder of the stakes on the Continent, and why we need to ensure Britain isn’t further dragged into the crisis, particularly through the IMF. Continue Reading

Richmondshire District Council is planning a 3% rise in council tax, not only for 2012/13, but for subsequent years too. This Saturday, TPA supporters will be meeting in Richmond, North Yorkshire, to collect signatures for our petition calling on councillors to reject an increase. We will be meeting at the Market Cross at 11.00 am. If you think you can make it, please contact me.

All those councils who are thinking about raising council tax should be following the lead of councils like South Holland in Lincolnshire, who are not increasing the burden on local residents, and are reducing bills instead. Councils planning increases are in the minority, and we need to send them a clear message that if the majority of councils can either freeze or reduce bills, there is no excuse for them not to do the same.

What: Richmondshire Action Day
Where: Market Cross, Richmond, North Yorkshire
When: 11.00 am, Saturday 18 February

It was revealed this week that Whitehall bureaucrats received over £22.8 million in bonuses in the last year. In a further indication that the public sector pay freeze is not being taken seriously enough, the Civil Service continues to pay out huge ‘performance-related’ extras to its staff. While hard-pressed taxpayers struggle under burdensome taxation, it is unacceptable that Whitehall departments are padding their staff’s bank accounts with taxpayers’ money.

Bonuses are supposed to reward exceptional staff who excel in their jobs and who make an outstanding contribution to their organisation. In the Civil Service, where managers have nothing so boring as productivity to worry about, bonuses are calculated using a complicated formula including the staff member’s contribution to hitting diversity quotas. Aside from the sheer cost of these pay-outs, serious questions must be asked about what makes these bureaucrats’ performance so exceptional. It seems that already highly-paid civil servants are being applauded as if the minimum wasn’t mandatory. Continue Reading