We’ve railed against wasteful spending at the BBC throughout our 18 year history. We’ve also challenged the organisation on its establishment outlook, which usually ignores the concerns of typical taxpayers and tends towards an ever-bigger state. Lots of people are open to the idea of a much smaller... Read more...
For a healthy balance of views in public life, it's important that a range of opinions are represented. Groups like the TaxPayers' Alliance and Greenpeace refuse to take taxpayers' money, but there are a plethora of groups in receipt of it – many of which then openly campaign against the... Read more...
Council tax is a major drain on the bank balances of many households. Taxpayers all over Britain constantly have to pay inflation busting rises every year. Our research has shown that on average between 1997 and 2017, council tax increased by 57 per cent in real terms across England. At... Read more...
In March 2022, we announced the launch of our new dynamic tax model. Built in collaboration with economic consultants Europe Economics, the model predicts the dynamic impact of tax changes on the economy and wages; using official data from the Office for Budget Responsibility (among others). TPA research director Duncan Simpson explains the... Read more...
We firmly believe Brits pay too much tax. Lower rates of tax always put more money in your pocket and they kick-start the economy, making the system fairer by creating more jobs and prosperity for everyone. Too often we talk about public spending with no reference to the level of... Read more...
We firmly believe that “there is no such thing as government money; only taxpayers’ money”. Since we were founded in 2004, we have sent tens of thousands of freedom of information requests, scoured thousands of sets of accounts, and quizzed officials to root out wasteful spending at all levels of... Read more...
Back in June 2012, Bristol City Council decided it would try to bring in a Workplace Parking Levy (WPL). They wanted to charge £1 a day per employee for companies with their own car parks. We caught wind of their plans and launched a grassroots campaign with local businesses to... Read more...
From day one, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has been rightly opposed to High Speed 2. We are all for transport infrastructure investment, but HS2 is far from the best use of taxpayers’ money. Originally estimated to cost £36 billion, we correctly estimated that the cost would be far higher. In September... Read more...
In 2013, we were the first campaign to push the hated Stamp Duty Land Tax up the political and media agenda. We launched our dedicated “Stamp Out Stamp Duty” campaign which quickly gathered momentum and received widespread media coverage. Before 3 December 2014, people in the UK paid a slab... Read more...
In early 2013, we launched an intense campaign which saw us distribute over 400,000 beer mats to pubs across the country which showed how much you paid in tax on a pint. We teamed up with The Sun, who backed our campaign and helped us get sustained coverage ahead of... Read more...
Thanks to our campaigning, the law was changed and senior staff leaving public sector roles have payouts capped at £95,000. Our Public Sector Rich List 2015 publication sparked a national debate on golden goodbyes, with mandarins and council staff leaving their jobs with eye-watering payoffs. Quite often, the same people... Read more...
In response to the ludicrous suggestion of a new tax on processed meats, in November 2018, we hosted an event in Westminster for politicians to show their opposition to any new meat taxes. At the 'Big Meat Up', MPs and Ministers joined us for a fry up and discussed how... Read more...
A government is employed by the electorate; the electorate should know how taxpayer money is being spent. The government should also present their information in a way that is clear and easy to understand instead of concealing the issue behind difficult language and layers of terminology. For years politicians have... Read more...
With the Daily Express, we collected over 300,000 signatures calling for the abolition of Inheritance Tax. In 2007 George Osborne promised that he would raise the tax threshold to £1 million per person. In October 2007, Alistair Darling doubled the inheritance tax threshold for married couples to £600,000. Although we... Read more...
60% of what you pay for fuel goes straight to the taxman. That means for £30 in fuel £18 goes to the Exchequer, £1 to the retailer and £11 covers the cost of the fuel. In many cases fuel is the only sensible option for getting to work, taking children... Read more...
Local residents brought a hugely important issue to our attention in 2018 - the Midland Metropolitan hospital, which stood only two thirds complete in Smethwick near Birmingham. Construction started in January 2016 but ground to a halt early in 2018 after the financial collapse of Carillion. The hospital was due... Read more...
Our award-winning Taxpayer Funding of Trade Unions campaign was started in 2010 to expose taxpayers’ subsidy of influential public sector trade unions, who are powerful advocates for higher public spending, higher taxes and burdensome regulation. Our researchers undertook one of the most comprehensive Freedom of Information campaigns ever. We requested... Read more...
Local councils are always looking for inventive new ways to take our money. With many hesitant to raise council tax and face a backlash from angry taxpayers, politicians have resorted to clever wheezes like 'Clean Air Zones'. These zones charge motorists for driving into local towns, under the mistaken belief it... Read more...
South West Coordinator Tim Newark launched a campaign in July 2013 to scrap the duty escalator on cider and stop almost a quarter of the price you pay for a pint of cider going to the taxman. Tim organised events to support the campaign, including Bristol, Bath, Colchester, Exeter, Frome,... Read more...
Why is it that you pay 57% tax on a bottle of wine and 79% of a bottle of spirits? Alcohol prices in the UK are 43% higher than the EU average because of alcohol duty. In 2014, we campaigned to scrap the alcohol supertax and allow the domestic alcohol... Read more...
Online shopping has helped deliver cheaper prices for consumers, but many customers like to visit shops and we will continue to make the case for cuts to ensure that shopkeepers can keep their doors open. Business rates has always been a major issue for the TPA. In fact we’ve been... Read more...
Air passenger duty (APD) is a levy on the airfares of adult passengers travelling from UK airports. We have one of the highest aviation taxes in Europe. Several near neighbours, including Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium have eliminated their aviation taxes altogether. In the run up to the 2018 Budget,... Read more...
In 2010, to highlight the crushing size of the national debt, we undertook a 1,500 mile tour of Britain – featuring a 7metre long, lorry-mounted digital Debt Clock, ticking up as the Government borrows more and more money. The message to the nation's politicians was: "Wake up to the National... Read more...
In August 2021 we launched our Quids Inn campaign to demand VAT relief for Britain’s pubs after the battering they took during the pandemic. Tim Martin with TPA chief executive John O’Connell We partnered with industry leaders and publicans across the country. Our launch event at a Westminster... Read more...