By Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager Life is tough right now. A 70-year high tax burden and soaring inflation has produced the perfect storm. Taxpayers are feeling the pressure and most people are being forced to make changes to their lifestyles. But while no one is immune, some... Read more...
Earlier this week, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released new stats that show exactly why we need to control public sector pay rises. The data showed a substantial increase in borrowing and a sharp increase in public sector net debt - which currently stands at £2.4 trillion, an increase... Read more...
By Emily Preston Taxpayers have funded trade union facility time since the Employment Protection Act of 1975. This legislation has allowed for trade union representatives, some spending up to 100 per cent of their working hours, to undertake union ‘duties’ and ‘activities’. These include collective bargaining over pay and... Read more...
by Tom Ryan, researcher Last week the government published Dr Javed Khan’s independent review, ‘making smoking obsolete’ as part of its smokefree 2030 policy. The 15 recommendations of the paper are part of a long tradition of going after British smokers, and like the proposals of previous decades, seek... Read more...
by David Taylor, Councillor for St Edward's, Havering On 26th May, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced a new windfall tax on energy companies. Well, he didn’t call it a windfall tax, because that was Labour’s plan. Instead he called it a ‘temporary targeted energy profits levy’. The fact that... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance This week millions of Brits will raise a glass to Her Majesty The Queen to celebrate the platinum jubilee. One pub chain was so keen to help the festivities that it slashed the price of a pint of beer.... Read more...
By Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance The World Economic Forum at Davos is the starkest possible example of the difference between free-market capitalism, and stakeholder, corporate capitalism. In the former case, government produces and enforces a set of clear, easy to follow rules. In the... Read more...
by Elliot Keck, investigations campaigns manager The UK’s tax code is notoriously long - 17,000 pages long. Within this there are countless examples of unnecessary, unnecessarily complex and downright harmful taxes and tax exemptions. Of course this isn’t a recent phenomenon. The history of taxation is littered with examples of... Read more...
by Benjamin Elks, fundraising, operations and events assistant For many people, pensions aren’t worth worrying about until they’re nearing retirement. A focus on their careers, saving to buy a home or start a family more often take precedence over saving for the golden years. In 2012, the government introduced... Read more...
The Westminster bubble is predictably outraged this morning by Boris Johnson’s suggestion that the civil service will need to reduce in size by around 90,000 roles over the next two or three years. Putting aside the pearl-clutching, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has been pointing out for a while that this... Read more...
by James Roberts, political director at the TaxPayers’ Alliance In March Rishi Sunak, committed to crackdown on wasteful spending across Whitehall by cutting £5.5 billion worth of waste. Billions were wasted during the pandemic and there are billions more to be found, so this is a welcome initiative for... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance It’s fair to say the recent launch of the Great British Rail Sale generated a mixed response from the public and pundits alike. Of most interest to me was a piece in the Daily Telegraph by transport commentator Christian Wolmar,... Read more...
by Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager We’re now almost a month into the new financial year, and rising bills have families worrying about how they’re going to make ends meet. Between a terribly timed national insurance rise, council tax hikes, increasing inflation, and skyrocketing energy bills, it’s no understatement... Read more...
By Sara Rainwater, operations director at the TaxPayers' Alliance I’ve lived in the London Borough of Sutton for five years now. Shortly after moving here, I started hearing about various mismanagements by the council, such as the local SEND scandal, when hundreds of special needs children were denied additional... Read more...
By Harry Fone, grassroots at the TaxPayers’ Alliance For most of my lifetime I’ve never had to worry about rising inflation. Until fairly recently, inflation has never been higher than 4 per cent since 1993. When New Labour made the Bank of England (BoE) independent in 1997, it felt... Read more...
Our latest research, the 15th edition of the Town Hall Rich List, reveals the top bureaucrats and box-tickers who have received hundreds of millions of pounds from council taxpayers. Here are 10 things you need to know about Town Hall Rich List 2022: The data from this Town Hall... Read more...
By Elliot Keck, investigations campaign manager Ahead of the bread and circuses of the spring statement, the chancellor announced a new efficiency drive. The Efficiency and Value for Money Committee - which he will chair and which will be specially tasked with rooting out wasteful spending - apparently meets... Read more...
By Darwin Friend, policy analyst The chancellor has some last-minute reading to do before delivering tomorrow’s spring statement. That’s because this morning the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released the most recent statistics on the UK’s public sector finances. They illustrate the British economy’s recovery from the coronavirus, but... Read more...
by James Roberts, political director of the TaxPayers' Alliance A superb investigation from The Times newspaper has revealed the shocking state of affairs at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA). Staff have been sent home on full pay yet not required to work, with hardline unions preventing... Read more...
By Duncan Simpson, research director The terrible war in Ukraine that’s unfolding on our TV screens - courtesy of the evil, cruel Vladimir Putin - will impact British taxpayers in many ways. Energy prices are likely to rise, adding pressure to families already struggling with tax hikes. Sanctions and other... Read more...
by Joe Ventre, digital campaign manager London is still reeling after a week of tube disruption. In scenes all too familiar for those who live and work in the capital, tube workers went on strike; leaving the millions of people who use the service every day in the lurch.... Read more...
By Sara Rainwater, operations director We saw from the news this weekend that there are hundreds of NHS bosses being paid more than the PM. Whether it’s highly paid middle managers or controversial diversity tsars, politicians have done a poor job of keeping an eye on the public sector... Read more...
by Danielle Boxall, media campaign manager at the TaxPayers’ Alliance This week our colleagues down under at the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union celebrated #FuelTaxHonestyDay. It’s part of their campaign against the extortionate rate of fuel taxes, which currently make up 52 per cent of the price of petrol in... Read more...
By Tom Ryan, researcher After two years of covid restrictions, England’s oldest pub, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks in St Albans, is closing its doors. The historic shutdown is a bad omen for the hospitality industry, which has continued to suffer even after the easing of lockdown rules. Now, the... Read more...