The Telegraph has reported that despite claims that water bills would have to rise to pay for additional flood defences, directors of the Environment Agency received bonuses of an average 10%, with the agencies chairman Baroness Young receiving a generous £24,000 (15%) bonus to add to her already over generous £163,000 salary. At a time when people are still without drinkable water, are repairing the flood damage caused to their homes, and are facing future water and insurance cost increases, should those in charge really be awarded such large bonuses?

To add insult to injury, it appears that the Environment Agency had their concerns over the possible effects of flooding. At a board meeting, "concern over the inadequacy of evacuation plans in some areas of England and Wales and … that there may be a serious risk of loss of life in significant floods" was raised, but evidentially nothing was done to prevent this and rectify the issues. Considering that three people have died in Tewkesbury as a result of the flooding to date, we fail to see how they have done an acceptable job which warrants five figure bonuses.

• NEW INDEPENDENT, NON-PARTY CAMPAIGN AGAINST RECKLESS SPENDING AND WASTE IN THE REGION
• BACKED BY A THOUSAND SUPPORTERS IN THE REGION AND A COUNCIL OF LEADING LOCAL FIGURES
• CAMPAIGN TO LAUNCH OUTSIDE THE PUBLIC ARTS CENTRE WITH NEW PETITION TO OPPOSE ANY EXTRA MONEY FOR THE FAILING PROJECT

The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) – Britain’s independent campaign for lower taxes and better government – is launching a new campaign in the region.   The West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance (WMTPA) is a new regional branch of the national TPA.  The cause is backed by some of Britain’s most respected academics and businesspeople. We are not linked to any political party and accept no public money. 

The WMTPA is a new voice for those who want a different future for the West Midlands. The group is building a grass-roots movement that can develop new policy ideas and communicate them to the people of the West Midlands.  We will represent the views of taxpayers and work with the national TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) promoting new research on public services and local government.

We will be holding meetings, investigating waste using the Freedom of Information Act, engaging with the media and organising direct mail efforts to spread our message. We already have over 1,000 supporters, a full-time organizer and a permanent office.  We are supported by some leading figures in the West Midlands. 

Among the new West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance Council are:

Keith Bradshaw, Chairman, Listers of Coventry
Robert Edmiston, Chairman, IM Group
Con Folkes, Chairman, Folkes Holdings
Mohammed Hasan, Catalyst Associates
Nigel Hastilow, former Birmingham Post editor
Chris Kelly, Chairman and Managing Director, Keltruck Ltd.
Neal Radford, former England cricketer
Peter Roberts, Leader of the 1.8 million Downing Street petition against road pricing
Richard Smith, Managing Director, HR Smith Group

We will expose waste, attack reckless spending, and campaign against all those politicians who meddle in vital services and want to keep taxes high on ordinary people.  Our campaign has five main ideas to bring prosperity and better services to the West Midlands: (1) Lower taxes; (2) More accountability; (3) An end to waste; (4) Less regulation; and (5) Reformed public services.

In particular, we will campaign to:

• Stop road pricing
• Cut taxes on business
• Reduce income tax rates
• Oppose new green taxes
• Lower council tax
• Scrap Inheritance Tax
• End the benefit trap
• Cut taxes on savings and pensions
• Stop new council bin taxes
• Abolish regional quangos

The new campaign will be launching outside the Public Arts Centre in West Bromwich as a prominent symbol of waste in the region.  For more details, please see the operational note below.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the national TaxPayers’ Alliance welcomed the launch of the new campaign:

“It’s great news that taxpayers in the West Midlands are finally going to be represented by a non-party campaign.  People are turning off party politics but they are not losing interest in how their money is being spent and all too often wasted by politicians.  Too much money is blown on projects like The Public and this culture of spend first and worry about budgets later has to end.  West Midlands taxpayers deserve better.”

Chris Kelly, Council Member of The West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance said:

“Road pricing and proposals for new green taxes are just another way for politicians to raise revenue.  The families and businesses of our region are already over-taxed – especially when you consider how much of our money is routinely wasted.  We need a fresh start, not more of the same.”

Mohammed Hasan, a spokesman for The West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance said:

“Government is not efficient at spending our money, and we have an ever increasing tax burden which is failing to deliver the benefits we want and need.  At a time when many families are struggling to cope with an increase in living costs, lower taxes and greater accountability will make our politicians and bureaucrats focus on the tough but necessary job of reforming their practices and giving value for money.”

• A full list of the WMTPA Council is available here.
• The text of a leaflet being sent to thousands of homes is available here (PDF).

For further details, please call: Blair Gibbs, Campaign Director of the TPA (07790 908860); Fiona McEvoy, Campaign Agent of the WMTPA (07736 274704).

Notes for Editors

OPERATIONAL NOTE FOR WEST MIDLANDS TAXPAYERS’ ALLIANCE LAUNCH EVENT:

What?     Launch of the regional branch of the TaxPayers’ Alliance.  We have over 1,000 supporters in the region and a high-profile council.  We will be unveiling a large 55ft poster truck with a bold slogan attacking wasteful spending by politicians. 

Who?     Council members of the WMTPA will be in attendance along with TPA staff and supporters from around the region.  TPA spokesmen and WMTPA council members will be available for interview.

When?     10.30am on Tuesday 31st July 2007 – supporters will be gathering from 10am.

Where?     Outside The Public Arts Gallery.  1 Overend Street, West Bromwich, B70 6EY. A map of the location is available here.

Why?     THE pUBLIC arts centre is a symbol of waste, mismanagement and unnecessary spending – exactly the kind of project the WMTPA is set up to campaign against in the interest of taxpayers.

Contacts on the day:

Blair Gibbs, TPA Campaign Director 
[email protected]

Fiona McEvoy, West Midlands Agent
[email protected]

210-222 Hagley Road West
Birmingham B68 0NP
0845 330 9554

Download West Midlands TaxPayers’ Alliance Launch Press Release (PDF)

This document sets out the dismal record of politicians wasting taxpayers’ money in the West Midlands.

Download West Midlands Waste Dossier (PDF)

Our supporters include those who run businesses operating in many industry sectors across the region as well as civil society. All of them support the TaxPayers’ Alliance in a personal capacity.

Paul Biggs, Regional Director, Association of British Drivers (ABD)
Alan Blumenthal, Managing Director, Suits Plus
Keith Bradshaw, Chairman, Listers of Coventry
Edward Carter, Regional Chairman & Director, Freshwater UK
Bill Church, Chairman, Carrs Toolsteel Technologies
Robert Edmiston, Chairman, IM Group
Greg Emms, Partner, Cobbetts
Con Folkes, Chairman & Chief Executive, Folkes Holdings
Carl Griffin, Folkes Holdings
Mohammed Hasan, Catalyst Associates
Nigel Hastilow, former Editor of the Birmingham Post
John Mellor OBE & QPM, retired Wolverhampton police officer and Chairman of the National Convention of Pensioners, Wolverhampton
Neal Radford, former England cricketer
Peter Roberts, Author of 1.8 million signature Downing Street petition against road pricing & founder of TravelTax.org.uk
Richard Smith, Managing Director, HR Smith Group
Rod Turner, Chairman, Whale Tankers Ltd.
David Wall, IM Group

The Taxpayers’ Alliance exists first and foremost to defend the interests and rights of ordinary hardworking taxpayers.  It is ordinary taxpayers who have to foot the mounting bill for a monolithic government bureaucracy wasting money on pointless, feel good projects.  Taxpayers have seen more of their own money swallowed up by the state and seen comparatively very little in return.  Yet it is the voice of those taxpayers who fund the gravy train that seem to count for least within the political process.  It is thus for the pensioner who is unable to pay spiralling council tax bills, the first time buyer unable to get onto the property ladder due to stamp duty, and the low paid worker who faces cripplingly high marginal tax rates and so little incentive to work that the Taxpayers’ Alliance exists to defend.

Private equity executives, whatever else they may be, do not quite fit the description of the ordinary taxpayer struggling to make ends meet.  However, following the barrage of criticism recently unleashed upon them by various left wing groups and politicians, we felt the need to come to their defence.  Most of the concern has focussed on the fact that the majority of the compensation offered to private equity comes from carried-interest, which is taxed as a capital gain rather than income, and so tax rates of 10% or less rather than 40%.   The interim report of the committee of MPs investigating private equity firms considers both this issue and the use of the non-domicile status as a tax loophole, along with the impact of private equity funds on the wider UK economy.

In the age of international capital mobility, firms are able to easily relocate around the world.  So when many other European countries are moving towards a system which treats carried-interest as a capital gain, it seems foolish for us to move in the opposite direction, by creating a tax system that penalises private equity firms and so gives them a clear incentive to make the most of their foot loose status and move abroad.  Private equity firms have produced £55 billion of investment over the last five years, whilst they contributed £26 billion of tax revenue to the exchequer last year.  That would be quite some loss to the British economy.

There is a broader point here.  One reason the rich do not need the Taxpayers’ Alliance to defend their interests is that they can afford an army of accountants and lawyers to exploit our outrageously complicated tax code to find its numerous loopholes.  It is these loop-holes that allow them to pay much lower marginal tax rates than many of the poorest workers.

A flatter, simpler tax would remove many of the loopholes that allow the richest to end up paying the lowest tax rates.  It is an empirical fact that tax cuts and simplifications lead to the richest providing a greater percentage of total government revenue.  Tax simplification, not clobbering a vital component of the British economy to appease the trade unions, should be the government’s economic priority.  To his credit, Alistair Darling said much the same thing when he asked to be judged on his success in simplifying taxation.  However, as the FT so brilliantly puts it, the government’s claim that it will continue to simplify our taxes is rather like “the Mafia [pledging] to continue deepening its commitment to the rule of law.”

A fact that seems to have escaped everyone’s attention, though, is that rich people paying lower marginal rates than poor people is no argument for raising the rate on the rich, it is an argument for cutting it on the poor.