This research note provides new estimates for the total amount of direct and indirect tax paid by average and poor households over their lifetimes. The estimates are calculated on the basis of a working lifetime of 40 years and 15 years of retirement; the results are quite shocking... Read more...
At a time when public sector pensions are under the spotlight, we reveal the true cost to taxpayers of ‘employer contributions’ to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Read more...
As part of our campaign for better transparency and accountability in Quango spending, the TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal the three and a half million pounds the Child Support Agency has spent on its taxpayer-funded credit cards over the last two years.As reported in this weekend's Sunday Express, this spending includes... Read more...
This note extends the concept of Tax Freedom Day, which is calculated annually by the Adam Smith Institute. As the New Year rolls in, the TaxPayers’ Alliance presents an estimate of the Cost of Government day for 2012. Read more...
In April 2011, the TaxPayers’ Alliance published a report exposing the money wasted on Local Policing Summaries – often expensive glossy documents that can easily be published online – by Police Authorities in England and Wales. Read more...
The first report in our Midlands Councils’ Spending Uncovered series revealed that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was spent on flights. Read more...
The Eurozone crisis looks set to potentially trigger a treaty change. This provides a broader opportunity for changing Britain’s relationship with the EU. Read more...
This note exposes how small the gap is between the number of people paying into unfunded public sector pension schemes (‘active members’) and the number drawing their pension (‘pension recipients’). Read more...
Since the TaxPayers' Alliance first revealed the level of taxpayer funding of trade unions last year it has become a major political issue. Read more...
The carbon floor price introduced in Budget 2011 threatens to increase energy prices in Britain while reducing them elsewhere in Europe. Read more...
Earlier research has shown that motoring taxes at their current rates cannot be justified by the need for spending on the roads and the contribution of road transport to climate change. Read more...
A critical part of the Government’s work on cutting spending is to introduce greater transparency, so taxpayers can see how their money is spent. Tax transparency is just as important, so that people know how much they are paying. Read more...
In the first in a new series of regional research notes focusing on the Midlands, the TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal the cost of flights by authorities in the area over the last two years. Our findings show that 48 councils in the region have continued to spend money on air... Read more...
National Insurance is almost indistinguishable from Income Tax in its function of raising revenue for the Government and in the way it affects incentives for employees. Read more...
This paper updates the TaxPayers‘ Alliance‘s 2008 publication Wasting Lives: A statistical analysis of NHS performance in a European context since 1981. It details the poor performance of the NHS when compared with European peers, despite huge increases in funding over the last decade. Read more...
With pressure on the budgets of local authorities and council tax having doubled over the past decade, councils need to do all they can to control unnecessary spending and deliver better value for money. Read more...
Earlier this year the TaxPayers’ Alliance uncovered details of the Royal Mail surplus staff scheme. Read more...
While the business case for HS2 continues to unravel, this research note examines the hidden costs of the project. Read more...
In June the TaxPayers’ Alliance published the 2011 Trade Union Rich List. It detailed the highest paid union bosses in 2009-10. This note reveals brand new figures, showing pay and benefits from 2010-11. Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) today reveals that Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has given up on £27.4 billion of tax revenue in the last five years. The findings are contained in a new TPA report for the 2020 Tax Commission (a joint project by the TPA and Institute of Directors). If the Government simplified the tax code, errors on this scale... Read more...
Ordinary people are paying a ruinous price for the attempts politicians make to control greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change policies dramatically raise electricity bills; make it much more expensive to drive to work or fly on holiday; put manufacturing workers out of a job and sometimes even make your food... Read more...
After we uncovered which websites Department for Work and Pensions staff had been visiting, we received a Freedom of Information response from the Department for Transport, which covered their six month internet history from January to the end of May this year. Read more...
As trade unions threaten disruptive strikes, the TPA reveals 37 trade union leaders took home pay packets of £100,000 or more. Read more...
A major new YouGov / TaxPayers’ Alliance poll of 2,732 British adults reveals that the public support billions in spending cuts to foreign aid, high speed rail, trade union funding and a Green Investment bank. Read more...