by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy AnalystToday marks April Fools’ Day. We all know the drill: unfunny pranks played on unsuspecting and irritated victims. Perhaps this is why, on this day in 1965, corporation tax was put into effect. It was believed at the time by the tax consultant John Chown that,... Read more...
by Jeremy Hutton, Policy AnalystOn Monday, we launched the first paper in our new series on foreign aid - First aid: Fixing international development. Massive thanks to Priti Patel, former aid secretary, who joined us for the launch and gave us her insights. While government is already picking up many... Read more...
By Ben Ramanauskas, Policy Analyst With punters pouring into pubs today for St Patrick’s Day, let’s talk about Ireland. It has pulled off one of the most impressive economic u-turns in recent memory. The Republic was hit particularly hard by the global financial crisis and subsequently fell into recession. It... Read more...
UPDATE: Higher probate fees are a tax, admits the government after charge increase for grieving families was introduced to generate an extra £155 million a year by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy AnalystUnder the innocuous sounding ‘Non-Contentious Probate (Fees Order)’, the government looks sets to push ahead with its plans to hike the... Read more...
By Ben Ramanauskas, Policy Analyst After the annual dog show, Crufts, it’s clear that the UK is a nation of animal lovers. According to the PDSA, in their appropriately named “Paw” report, 49 per cent of UK adults own a pet. This breaks down to 11.1 million cats, 8.9 million... Read more...
To learn more about the Stand Against Socialism (SAS) campaign, click here. by James Middleton, TPA intern Socialism is on the rise. From Plymouth to Orkney, young people clamour for greater state intervention in their lives, higher taxes and even higher spending. Capitalism, we are expected to believe, is a... Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance hosted a panel discussion on local authorities’ spending on commercial property and investments on Tuesday 26th. The discussion, and subsequent Q&A, was wide ranging, and included the councillors’ experience of commercial property and other investments, the moral hazard for taxpayers that this may create, and the distortionary... Read more...
To learn more about the Stand Against Socialism (SAS) campaign, click here. by Chloe Westley, Campaign Manager At the TPA, we believe in lower taxes and better public services, because these policies have been proven to improve the lives of millions of people across the world. In stark comparison, socialism... Read more...
Click here to learn more about the Stand Against Socialism (SAS) campaign, click here. by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy AnalystDespite lifting over a billion people out of poverty and raising the standard of living in a way that is unprecedented in human history, capitalism has an image problem. It is seen... Read more...
To learn more about the Stand Against Socialism (SAS) campaign, click here. 1. It’s really difficult to get online In a country like Cuba, don’t count on being able to use Google Maps to find your way around. As for using your phone to order a takeaway or find that... Read more...
To learn more about the Stand Against Socialism (SAS) campaign, click here. by John O'Connell, Chief Executive It's a truth, unfortunately not universally acknowledged, that not all countries have started on the path to socialist ruin with hardline socialist governments. The march to statism doesn't only happen with the guys... Read more...
by Chloe Westley, Campaign Manager Awards season is upon us! Cue the flashing lights, teary acceptance speeches about smashing the patriarchy, selfies on the catwalk and bickering online over the best and worst dressed Hollywood stars. It’s the epitome of celebrity culture in the 21st century - glitzy, narcissistic, a... Read more...
by Richard Mason - Research Fellow at Consumer Choice CenterAbout half a century ago, Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote in his book Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy about a concept he called ‘creative destruction’. Derived from the previous works of Marx, Schumpeter perceived economic growth under capitalism as a destructive force... Read more...
By Policy Analyst, Jeremy Hutton. At the TaxPayers’ Alliance we don’t waste a moment and it’s pretty standard for everyone in the office to be working on completely different projects. Hence whilst I’ve been analysing reams of data for the next research paper (see my work on council spending on... Read more...
by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy AnalystThe Sunday Times recently published its tax list, revealing the amount paid by the UK’s biggest taxpayers. There have been calls in recent years for the salaries and amount paid in taxation, by each and every individual, to be made public. This is the situation in... Read more...
by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy Analyst Last month, under cover of Brexit, the government published its clean air strategy. In a nutshell, the strategy sets out the government’s plans for dealing with air pollution. The basic premise is commendable. Air pollution is bad for our health, particularly for children, the... Read more...
By Policy Analyst, Jeremy Hutton. Writing for the Sunday Express recently, Baroness Cox highlighted a relatively unknown conflict in Nigeria. Since the 1980s, semi-nomadic herdsmen called the Fulani have sporadically locked horns with settled Christian farmers, as the former seek to graze their herds in the lands of the latter.... Read more...
by Harry Fone, Grassroots Campaign ManagerReaders born before 1990 will likely remember a series of adverts by the Inland Revenue (as HMRC used to be known) that professed, “Tax doesn’t have to be taxing”. Well unfortunately it is, very taxing. In fact, our recent research crunched the numbers and revealed... Read more...
by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy Analyst Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee recently published a report on food security in the United Kingdom. It makes grim reading, highlighting a number of issues in the UK such as households having limited access to food, undernutrition, and obesity. The Committee said that the government has... Read more...
by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers' Alliance The Consumer Electronics Show is well under way in Las Vegas. The Show will feature the latest gadgets that are set to be launched from technology firms. As these companies show off their latest wares which include everything from shape shifting... Read more...
by Jeremy Hutton, Policy Analyst In 2017 the UK’s foreign aid budget hit an all-time high of £14.1 billion, an increase of £682 million on the previous year and approximately £6 billion more than was spent in 2012. Ever since David Cameron pledged that the UK would meet the UN’s... Read more...
by Ben Ramanauskas, Policy Analyst The Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock, has ordered a review into overprescribing in the NHS. This is welcome news as NHS spending on medicines in England has grown from £13 billion in 2010-2011 to £18.2 billion in 2017-2018. This move by Hancock follows... Read more...
by Jeremy Hutton, Policy Analyst 2018 has been a testing year for those residing in Britain. We've had 365 days of Brexit front page and centre near enough every day of the year. You could be forgiven for being ignorant about what else government has been doing the past year.... Read more...
By Erin Few. Chancellor Philip Hammond’s 2018 budget brought news of yet another unnecessary tax on UK businesses. This newly proposed levy, the Digital Services Tax, will be implemented by April 2020. Following the lead of some European countries, such asItaly and Hungary, which have adopted similar taxes in... Read more...