Campaign News
Visit the new TaxPayers' Alliance website...
Launched at the weekend, the new TPA website has a brand new layout and improved design. We listened to feedback on the site and from responses to our website survey and have tried to accommodate the wishes of our existing audience as much as we can. The content of the website is still very much a work in progress - most of the main TPA material is there, and the new blog layout should make it easier to find. We will be gradually uploading our older content in the coming weeks, including campaign documents, activist material and previous TPA polls and press releases from 2005 and 2006.
The site now has five themed blogs - Better Government; Economics 101; Burning Our Money; Campaign and Media Coverage - around which everything else is organised. New items in these sections are then linked to on the frontpage as they are uploaded so you'll know what is new just by visiting the main page.
The Homepage will have a selection of news that we think you'll find relevant every morning and we'll deliberately be linking to news and comment items you might not see on other sites. Every weekday morning from 9.30am you can visit the site to catch up with the latest TPA news, see that day's coverage of tax and government waste issues, read new TPA blogs commenting on the news agenda and get involved in the debate yourself by posting a comment.
The content will be changing regularly throughout the day so why not set www.taxpayersalliance.com as your homepage, and visit us over lunch or before leaving work or having dinner?You can also watch videos about the campaign via our blogs or our dedicated YouTube channel and you can also visit our Facebook page and join our growing online community. The aim of the new site is to drive up visitor traffic in order to help spread news about the TPA and to give visitors of all types plenty to read and download.
We want to ensure that there is something for everyone on the new site - be they TPA activists, supporters, interested passers-by or journalists - and by the end of the year, we want the TaxPayers' Alliance website to be one of the top 5 political websites in the UK. We hope you like it. Please feel free to send suggestions of anything you'd like to see integrated into the new website in future to
New Research
Today the TaxPayers’ Alliance has launched a major report, “Beyond the Dome: Government projects £23 billion over budget” examining the record of government capital procurement. The report examined the record of government projects and found that it isn’t only famous failures like the Dome or the Eurofighter that go over budget. Up and down the country there are big overruns in the building of hospitals, roads, science facilities, defence systems, IT projects and even art galleries.
Looking at over three hundred projects, completed in the last two years or ongoing, it was found that there was a net overrun of £23 billion, an average of over 33 per cent. Even this figure is probably an underestimate as the numbers for many major projects are thought to have been fiddled. This is a vast amount of money, equivalent to £900 for every household in Britain. Some examples: Barts & the London hospital overran by £380 million. Astute Class submarines by over £1.1 billion. The “THE pUBLIC” art gallery in Sandwell, in the West Midlands, is £30m over budget.
Politicians and civil servants fail to properly specify what is desired from a project before the project begins, underestimate costs to get the project approved and pay over the odds in an attempt to solve the problem. They do this relying upon the taxpayer to pick up the tab. You can read the report here.
TPA in the Media
We continue to get high levels of media coverage - especially around the release of a new report. Over the last few days we have been on Sky News, Five Live and a dozen local radio stations. Our new report on over-budget public projects was covered by the Telegraph, Times, Sun, Mail, Express and many other local newspapers and radio stations and websites. A selection of our latest press coverage is here.
Other News
The TPA has recruited ten new local organisers and lots more activists in the last fortnight who are all keen to get stuck into campaiging. If you would like to become an activist for the low-tax cause, email the TPA's Grassroots Coordinator on [email protected]
The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), has just published an excellent duffer's guide to the life and work of Adam Smith - the man on the new £20 banknotes. Adam Smith: A Primer - is authored by TPA Academic Advisory Council member Dr Eamonn Butler, Director of the Adam Smith Institute. You can read it here.
The Pensioners' Party recently endorsed the TPA campaign to reform council tax and make all our taxes lower, fairer and simpler. Look out for their new campaign sticker supporting lower taxes.
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