Research papers

The Single Income Tax

The 2020 Tax Commission is a joint project between the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), Britain’s independent grassroots campaign for lower taxes, and the Institute of Directors (IoD) Europe's largest membership organisation for business leaders. The Commission's final report calls for radical but realistic reform of our tax system, that is vital to kick start growth.... Read more...

The Cost of Collecting Tax

Since 1958 and for over half a century, there has been no significant reduction in the costs of raising each pound of tax in Britain. This is despite decades of technological progress and dramatic improvements in productivity in the wider economy. There are serious concerns that the complexity of Britain’s taxes imposes substantial costs on... Read more...

Town Hall Rich List 2012

The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) proudly presents the sixth Town Hall Rich List, the 'Who's Who' of local government fat cats, detailing the job titles, full remuneration and many of the names of all local council employees earning over £100,000 for the financial year 2010-11. These details have been taken from accounts published by councils... Read more...

The £28bn tax gap

The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has revealed that £28.5 billion of tax revenue has been lost to the illicit market in spirits, beer, cigarettes, hand rolling tobacco and diesel between 2005-06 and 2009-10.  To read the full report, click here  Read more...

Total Lifetime Tax

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...

The True Cost of the LGPS

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...

Child Support Agency Credit Card Spending

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...

Cost of Government Day 2012

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...

Police Authority Budgets

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...

Council Staff Suspensions

The first report in our Midlands Councils’ Spending Uncovered series revealed that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money was spent on flights.  Read more...

Terms of Endearment

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...

Public Sector Pensions Gap

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...

Trade Union Funding 2011

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...

Industrial Masochism

The carbon floor price introduced in Budget 2011 threatens to increase energy prices in Britain while reducing them elsewhere in Europe. Read more...

Local Motoring Taxes

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...

Everyday Tax Transparency

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...

Midlands Councils' Flights

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...

Abolish National Insurance

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...

Wasting Lives 2011

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...

Council Award Ceremonies

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...

TfL Surplus Staff

Earlier this year the TaxPayers’ Alliance uncovered details of the Royal Mail surplus staff scheme.  Read more...

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