As the UK faces the challenges of the modern world, effective international development is seen as an important tool for pursuing the country's national interest. But the political debate has persistently revolved around whether Britain should retain the 0.7 per cent aid target it committed to law in 2015. While... Read more...
This year many local councils in England will be allowed to raise council tax by more than 5 per cent1,2. As many local authorities across Britain further limit service provision, often taxpayers are paying more for less. Meanwhile, most local authorities are continuing to spend significant amounts of money on... Read more...
The senior civil servants who lead Whitehall government departments have some of the best remuneration packages in the public sector, with a £20 million pension pot between them. Whilst their pension pots have been accumulated over many years of service, the overall benefits are significantly more generous than most in... Read more...
Across a wide range of metrics, life in Britain has improved markedly in recent decades. Young people benefit from a wide range of products and services that have become much more affordable or, in some cases, simply did not exist in the recent past. Medicine has improved with dramatic effects.... Read more...
Today the TaxPayers’ Alliance publishes their 2018 Nanny State Rich List, revealing that hundreds of public health bosses enjoy pay packages of over £100,00. Since the TPA’s last rich list publication in 2016, the public health puritans in Britain have succeeded in lobbying for a sugar tax, a ban on junk food... Read more...
This year Public Health England has spent over £41.7 million of taxpayers money telling Brits what they can and cannot eat, drink and do in their leisure time. Using these warnings and guidelines, the TaxPayers' Alliance has calculated what a public health puritan approved Christmas lunch would look like. Following the... Read more...
New research by the TaxPayers' Alliance shows how the taxman drains away our Christmas cheer by imposing stealth Christmas taxes. Christmas taxes, as calculated by the TaxPayers' Alliance, include the cost of VAT on shopping items, as well as fuel duty, the new sugar tax, and alcohol taxes. With rising inflation... Read more...
The 49-year high tax burden estimate for 2018-19 has increased from 34.3 to 34.6 per cent of GDP. Treasury plans keep Britain’s historic-high tax burden at 49-year high plateau for next five years. Overall government revenues this year are at a 32-year high, at 37 per cent of GDP. This... Read more...
Business rates are widely seen by commercial enterprises, both large and small, as the tax on business that is the least fairly applied, poorly administered and most in need of reform. The principle reasons for the unpopularity of business rates are: Their sheer scale in relation to rental values, rising... Read more...
It was good to hear the chancellor say that 'ending austerity' should not mean tax hikes. Increases in the personal allowance and higher rate income tax thresholds, with freezes to taxes on beer, cider, fuel and short-haul flights, will give much-needed breathing space to hard-pressed taxpayers. That said, the tax burden overall... Read more...
Despite predicting it would eliminate the budget deficit by 2015, then 2017, then 2019, after nearly nine years in power the government has failed to do so. It now only expects to balance the budget by the middle of the next decade. Should the governments’ current fiscal targets prove over... Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance has formally submitted a representation for Budget 2018, calling for a cut to Air Passenger Duty. Buying a ticket for a long-haul flight out of the UK will set you back at least £78 in air passenger duty, a tax levied on all adult flyers from UK... Read more...