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...