Following the report by the LSE (covered in the Daily Telegraph this morning) that stamp duty is a negative burden on the UK economy, TaxPayers' Alliance Chief Executive John O'Connell said: "This pernicious tax prevents younger people from getting on the housing ladder, and stops older people downsizing to more manageable homes. This hurts people at every stage... Read more...
Following the publication of salaries of those earning over £150,000 in the BBC's accounts, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance: "Licence fee payers deserve to know how their money is being spent, so it is right that the BBC have finally published the salaries of some of their... Read more...
Following Philip Hammond's warning that the government must hold its nerve on public sector pay, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "The chancellor is right to offer caution on public sector pay and to say that we need a grown-up debate about spending. The nation's public finances are still... Read more...
Following from the government's announcement that they will review the public sector pay cap ahead of the Autumn Budget, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It would be a grave error for the government to completely abandon prudence with public sector pay when the nation’s finances are in such a... Read more...
Following the government's announcement that they have agreed a "Confidence & Supply Agreement" with the Democratic Unionist Party, Alex Wild, Research Director at the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers resent politicians cooking up deals behind closed doors that invariably end with their cash being thrown wherever is politically advantageous rather than where it could... Read more...
Responding to the SNP manifesto, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "Anyone listening to Nicola Sturgeon today would be forgiven for thinking there was a magic money tree waiting to be shaken to fund this manifesto. Scotland's finances have been in a dire state because of its... Read more...
Responding to Labour's manifesto, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: This entire manifesto is based on the clearly absurd belief that businesses can be repeatedly hammered with massive tax increases and crippled with regulation without any wider impact on the economy, jobs and investment. If even a handful... Read more...
Responding to Labour's proposals for increased taxes on financial transactions, Alex Wild, Research Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "When politicians say things that sound too good to be true, invariably they are just that. The idea that vast sums can be raised simply by 'clamping down' on tax avoidance is... Read more...
Reacting to Labour's leaked draft manifesto, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:"This manifesto is a toxic mix of nationalisations, interventions and monumental tax hikes. A 1970s-style agenda would be a disaster for the country and the parties should instead be offering up policies that get the economy in shape to compete... Read more...
Reacting to the Conservatives' proposal to cap energy prices, Alex Wild, Research Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "One of the Prime Minister’s first acts on moving in to Downing Street was signing up to the most expensive conventional power station anywhere in the world at Hinckley Point, so her new found... Read more...
Key findings of analysis of Labour's tax proposals: VAT The VAT lock is specified as applying to the standard rate. It says nothing of exempt or zero-rated goods and services, for example insurance, foods, medicines, building supplies This would also leave room for increasing the 5 per cent rate on... Read more...
Reacting to Labour's pledge to reverse cuts to Capital Gains Tax, John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said:"This is yet another example of politicians making policy on the hoof, promising more money by hiking taxes. In any case, all the evidence shows that cutting CGT has positive effects for the broader economy. If... Read more...