TPA Activist Brian Sturman (see left) is a prolific letter writer for the low tax cause and consistently writes letters holding our wasteful politicians to account. His letters routinely find their way into the Eastern Daily Press and Norwich Evening News and have reached as far away as the Northumberland... Read more...
Independent East Herts Councillors Nigel and Deborah Clark have been hard at work fighting for taxpayers. Despite having their alternative budget rejected – a budget that would have lowered councillor allowances and cut the council tax rise in the borough – they are now fighting to save the local... Read more...
In what is becoming an all too familiar tale, the NHS has chosen to reward the failure of one of its senior managers. But this time it is not just a handsome payoff. The Telegraph reports that: "[Ruth Harrison], a former hospital chief executive who was at the center... Read more...
Here is TPA South West Surrey Organiser Peter Webb's February Campaign Diary. Hat's off to him, in one month he's been regularly quoted on the front page of the Surrey Advertiser, continues to hold Councillors to account and coordinates letter writing campaigns with other SW Surrey TPA Activists. IF you'd... Read more...
National pay scales in operation One of the reasons we get such poor value from our public services is that government continues to operate national pay scales for its employees. National scales ensure we pay too much and too little, both at the same time. In London and... Read more...
A huge share of Britain's GDP, tax revenues and exports are dependent upon financial services and the continuing ability of London to attract investment in this vital industry. It is one sector where we are a world leader. Take a look at the WorldMapper map with countries' sizes adjusted... Read more...
There are two issues in the news today that deserve a prompt and serious response. Hospital infections are proving more lethal than we thought: "Nearly 10 people are dying every day from the superbug Clostridium difficile. Official figures show 6,480 death certificates in 2006 mentioned the bug, compared with 3,757... Read more...
INDIVIDUAL DATA PROVIDED FOR EVERY COUNCIL IN THE UK Download Council Spending Uncovered No. 3: Pensions (PDF) £1 in every £5 of council tax spent on local government pensions 2006-07 saw a 13% rise on 2005-06 Average council spends £10 million a year on pensions ... Read more...
Hong Kong is to implement massive tax cuts: "Hong Kong's financial chief said Wednesday he will cut salary and corporate taxes and abolish duty on beer and wine after a booming economy pushed the city's budget surplus to a record high. In his maiden budget speech, Financial Secretary John Tsang... Read more...
Some rather dispiriting news today about the number of students still failing to meet basic standards in the core subjects: "More than a third of schoolchildren in England are failing to master the basics after three years of secondary school, according to results published today. Around 216,000 struggle in the... Read more...
Just be thankful they're not in charge of pie buying This morning we've got the NAO drains up on that GPs pay deal. We've blogged it many times of course (see collection gathered here), and we'll be doing a proper post on this report later. Meanwhile, here's the... Read more...
The race is on to fill Nick Paul’s shoes as the £80,000 per-year, 3-day-week Chairman of regional development quango, Advantage West Midlands. The Birmingham Post today profiled the candidates for the position, with Sir Roy McNulty, Brian Woods-Scawen, Bob Dover, Mike Beasley, Derek Harris and Barry Cleverdon being named... Read more...
Devon County Council thinks it right to spend £27k of your money on reducing its own carbon footprint. Perhaps they could have thought of a car share scheme or even ask their employees to take the bus instead of shelling out well over £30k on a bureaucrat, office space and... Read more...
Where to in a downturn? When Lord Forsyth's Tax Commission reported 18 months ago, it called for tax cuts amounting to £21bn. Ed Balls and the BBC immediately savaged it: "same old Tories - same old destroying the NHS - same old killing babies and pensioners in the... Read more...
Two vacancies have emerged on Camden Council’s Standards Committee for independent residents or members of the public who work in Camden. This is an ideal opportunity for TPA activists to hold Camden Councillors to account and see that they abide by the council’s code of conduct. This may... Read more...
Taxpayers celebrate in Edinburgh last night When we published the second Council Spending Uncovered paper on councils' massive publicity spending, Edinburgh City Council came in for quite a bit of criticism when it was revealed they were the biggest spender on spin in Scotland - splashing out £3.4m... Read more...
In an excellent speech yesterday at the IEA's State of the Economy conference Lord Forsyth, chairman of the Tax Reform Commission, used his speech (PDF, via ConservativeHome) to set out just how much could be achieved if spending growth was controlled: the ruinous economic effects of high taxes that we... Read more...
Going up There are three points to make about yesterday's dire truancy statistics (see DCSF stats release here). First, as the chart shows, overall truancy has continued to climb. The percentage of half days missed due to unauthorised absence in primary, secondary and special schools in England... Read more...
Yesterday the Express and Star reported that Wolverhampton City Council will be installing a new assistant chief executive on a bumper £84,000 per-year salary. Another addition, and yet only at the very end of January did the second paper in the TaxPayers’ Alliance Council Spending Uncovered series, ‘Middle Management... Read more...
Dan Mitchell, from the Centre for Freedom and Prosperity at the Cato Institute, provides evidence for the importance of dynamic effects on tax returns. Read more...
Booming independent schools The TES has been talking to some of the thousands of state school teachers who send their own children to independent schools. For obvious reasons, many of them won't talk, but this is John, a primary deputy head in Norfolk: “People say to... Read more...
Click here for the full text of the letter sent by the TaxPayers' Alliance to Mr John Lyon, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, requesting an investigation into Michael Martin MP, Speaker of the House of Commons, regarding taxi expenses and alleged attempts by someone in his department to mislead the public... Read more...
Be very careful of assuming that if someone's heart is in the right place they'll tend to get things right. They need to know what they're doing. Here's one example, from the Marginal Revolution blog, of what happens when they don't: "Oakland's recent gun buyback was especially ridiculous. The police... Read more...
Being an activist in the TPA means you’re not just joining a political pressure group, you’re a guerrilla in our taxpayers’ army. We want to equip you with all you need to be able to hold your politicians to account as well as securing victories for the taxpayer. With our... Read more...