The Ten Per Cent Challenge
The fifth part of the CSU series challenges councils to save 10 per cent in several key non-priority budgets in 2006-07 and shows how that could allow them to cut Council Tax bills. Read more...
Council Spending Uncovered No. 5: The Ten Percent Challenge
TAXPAYERS' ALLIANCE THROWS DOWN GAUNTLET TO COUNCILS WITH SIMPLE AND MODEST SAVINGS COUNCIL TAX CAN BE CUT BY 3.5%, WHICH IS £40 OFF THE AVERAGE BAND D BILL INDIVIDUAL DETAILS FOR HUNDREDS OF COUNCILS SHOWS SIMPLE SAVINGS IN PUBLICITY, MANAGEMENT AND PENSION COSTS Ahead of the local elections on May... Read more...
The Cost of Crime in London
A new study by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has discovered that the cost of crime in London in 2006-07 was a staggering £3 billion, equivalent to £400 for every person in London. Using Home Office calculations to take into account the economic and social cost of various types of crime, TPA... Read more...
The Economic and Political Case Against Higher Fuel Duty
The report shows that people living in marginal constituencies are more likely to drive to work, and how motorists are already paying too much tax. It calls on the Government to abandon the 2p rise in Fuel Duty set for April. Read more...
Council Spending Uncovered: Town Hall Rich List 2008
The fourth part of the CSU series (and second edition of our annual Town Hall Rich List) provides details of over 800 local authority employees with remuneration packages of at least £100,000 for the periods 2006-07 and 2007-08, including 14 earning more than the Prime Minister. Read more...
How Cutting Corporation Tax Would Boost Revenue
The report, written for Conservative Way Forward, reveals compelling evidence based on the experiences of Britain’s leading international competitors that a cut in the rate of corporation tax would boost the economy and speed up the rate of growth in revenues raised by the Treasury. Read more...
Budget 2008 Report
The report shows how higher spending on public services has failed to deliver results and how controlling spending and reducing taxes could deliver significant economic benefits. Read more...
HM Prison Service is Failing: A New Approach is Urgently Needed
The first paper in the Failure of Politicians series is written by Lord Ramsbotham, the former Chief Inspector of Prisons. Read more...
How to Save £3.3 Billion a Year from the Civil Service
There has been justified concern over recent decades that the huge size of the Civil Service constitutes government waste. This paper sets out how substantial savings can be made through reducing the numbers in the Civil Service without needing to make compulsory redundancies. Read more...
Council Spending Uncovered: Pensions
The third part of the CSU series reveals that local authorities are spending £1 in every £5 of council tax revenue on employer pension contributions in 2006-07. Read more...
Wasting Lives: A Statistical Analysis of NHS Performance in a European Context Since 1981
The report sets out the ongoing failure of the NHS to match European levels of healthcare performance and the inability of new money, since 1999, to rectify the situation. Read more...
Quango Communication Spending
The report shows that many of the biggest quangos have significantly increased their spending on publicity. Read more...
Council Spending Uncovered: Middle Management Pay
The second part of the CSU series examines the increase in town hall spending on middle and senior management in 2006-07, giving details for all local authorities in the UK. Read more...
Funding Hate Education
In the first of a series of papers analysing the effectiveness of expenditure on overseas aid, the report reveals disturbing evidence showing how British taxpayers’ money has been spent helping to fund hate education and promote violence in the Middle East. Read more...
The Tax on Christmas
The research note, authored by former Treasury economist Mike Denham, shows that the average household pays £225 in indirect taxes over Christmas, making a total of £5.65 billion. Read more...
Council Spending Uncovered: Publicity
The first part of the CSU series examines the doubling of council publicity spending over the past decade and gives details for all local authorities in the UK. Read more...
Public Sector Rich List 2007
The second edition of the annual Public Sector Rich List presents a list of the 300 most highly paid people in the public sector, all earning above £150,000 a year. Read more...
Council tax in the Pre-Budget Report
PRE-BUDGET REPORT PROJECTS COUNCIL TAX RISE OF ALMOST 30 PER CENT OVER NEXT FIVE YEARS HUGE RISE EQUIVALENT TO £370 PER YEAR FOR A BAND D PROPERTY IN ENGLAND Buried in the small print of the Pre-Budget Report is some very worrying news for council taxpayers, who have already seen... Read more...
Council Mileage Allowances
The survey of councils in the West Midlands reveals that all but two pay their staff more per mile than the HMRC approved rates. Read more...
The Case Against Green Taxes
The first comparison of official and academic estimates of the social cost of Britain’s carbon emissions with the revenue raised from green taxes shows that environmental taxation is already above its optimal level. Read more...
Response to the CQoLPC Report
The TPA attacks the intellectual assumptions behind the report and argues that the Policy Group’s recommendations would lead to more tax, regulation and bureaucracy, would curb vital infrastructure development and would undermine free trade. Read more...
The Non-Courses Report 2007
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has compiled Britain’s first ever list of university “non-courses” – university degrees that lend the respectability of scholarly qualifications to non-academic subjects – and calculated their annual cost to students and taxpayers. The huge expansion in student numbers in recent years, encouraged by the Government’s 50 per... Read more...
Olympics 2012 Hidden Costs
The research note calculates that the London Olympics will add £4 billion to construction inflation in London and the South East. Read more...
Green Tokenism: Government Cars
The research note finds that if the Government had not bought hybrid cars, it could have planted 74,000 trees with the money saved, a far better environmental move. Read more...