The Hidden Costs of HS2
While the business case for HS2 continues to unravel, this research note examines the hidden costs of the project. Read more...
Update: Trade Union Rich List 2011
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...
£27.4 billion not collected by the taxman
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...
Let Them Eat Carbon
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...
DfT Internet Usage
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...
Trade Union Rich List 2011
As trade unions threaten disruptive strikes, the TPA reveals 37 trade union leaders took home pay packets of £100,000 or more. Read more...
Spending Cuts Poll 2011
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...
TPA Verdict on the Coalition
During the last General Election, we published a manifesto which set out our objectives for this Parliament. We promised then that we would judge any new government against that standard. Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance Manifesto: 1 Year On
Shortly before the last General Election, the TaxPayers’ Alliance produced a manifesto. We pledged to judge any new Government on the standard it set. The manifesto set out recommendations in three areas – tax & spending, reforming services and democracy & transparency – and divided them between measures where it expected to see action... Read more...
Corporation Tax Policy Brief
Corporation Tax is not fit for purpose. This new Briefing Note for the 2020 Tax Commission, written by Commissioner and Associate Professor of Economics at the ESCP Europe Business School Anthony J. Evans, measures the tax against four key criteria, and finds that it drives down wages; lowers returns for... Read more...
Local Policing Summaries
Police authorities are required by law to produce a Local Policing Summary every year. This summary is meant to let the public in each area know how their force is doing with meeting targets and where they see their priorities for the coming year. Read more...
Council Mileage Spending
Motorists are one of the most overtaxed groups in the UK and face sky-high fuel bills. Read more...
HS2 Capacity Analysis
The Government’s proposed high speed rail line will not deliver the capacity needed. This report reveals for the first time a comprehensive list of which towns will be worse off and gives details of how each place could be negatively hit by worse journey times, fewer seats and/or fewer trains... Read more...
Abolish National Insurance
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) outlined how to abolish National Insurance by 2017 to make the tax system simpler and more transparent. National Insurance serves no purpose and has set out a package of measures to merge both employers’ and employees’ contributions with Income Tax. This detailed and extensive transition plan comes... Read more...
Empty Property Rates
In April the holiday period for Empty Property Rates relief comes to an end. The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has produced this policy brief to inform taxpayers, policy makers, the media and other interested parties about the effects of that change. Read more...
Town Hall Rich List 2011
We proudly present the fifth Town Hall Rich List, the 'Who's Who' of local government fat cats, detailing all those whose remuneration exceeds £100,000. Read more...
Will HS2 Create Jobs?
The Government claim that building their proposed new high speed rail line from London to Birmingham (HS2) will create around 40,000 jobs. Read more...
Secondary School Spending Analysis
On the 12th January 2011, the Department for Education published schools’ spending data for the financial year 2009-10. This TaxPayers’ Alliance study is the first to investigate that data, and provides new insights into how schools spend their budget and the results they obtain. Read more...
Disparity in Number of Bins
Local authorities are under increasing pressure to collect materials separately because of the EU Landfill Directive. This burden has been passed on to taxpayers, who are now required to sort a range of materials individually. Read more...
Tolley’s Tax Guides
This research note shows how the Tolley’s guides for individual taxes have grown over the last decade. Read more...
High Speed Rail
Despite the severity of the fiscal crisis politicians of all parties are backing High Speed Rail (HSR), but the evidence suggests that there is no robust financial or economic case for the project. Read more...
“Fair” taxes
As part of the 2020 Tax Commission project, this new research highlights potentially unfair scenarios in our current tax system. Read more...
Pass The Salt
As the UK is blasted by snow and icy weather, the TaxPayers' Alliance have compiled a list of how much local councils have spent on road salt (not grit) in the last two years. Read more...
Christmas Tax
We reveal the £283 tax bill facing the average family this Christmas, higher than ever before. Many ordinary families are tightening their belts but with tax on most of the contents of their shopping basket Chancellor Osborne is still demanding his share, stealing away that Christmas cheer with taxes on all... Read more...