Highest tax burden this year since 1969-70 The government is seeking new policy ideas as it tries to find ways to pay for a promised funding boost for the NHS. Pressure is mounting for spending increases elsewhere, too, with vigorous calls for cash injections for defence and education. But a... Read more...
Tax cuts could help pay for better public services, says TaxPayers’ Alliance Six months on from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, new analysis shows that the US economy is in good shape. Unemployment has continued its downward trend to 3.8 per cent in May 2018 and employees have benefited from higher earnings growth... Read more...
Local authorities have spent £6.8 million on flights since 2015, with some flying business class Research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) reveals the cost to taxpayers of flights for local bureaucrats over the last three years. Since 2015, local authorities in Britain have spent £6,792,500 on air travel, with each... Read more...
‘Automate the state’ - TaxPayers’ Alliance launches campaign to deliver better quality public services After the announcement that more money will be spent on the NHS, we should pick up the pace of automation in healthcare Introducing more automation into the public sector more broadly can save taxpayers £17 billion a... Read more...
A new report by the TaxPayers’ Alliance details the enormous savings to British taxpayers by legalising cannabis. The UK could save at least £891.72 million a year in reduced spending by police, prisons, courts and the NHS through pain relief treatments. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL PAPER. Read more...
The Metropolitan Police, and its spending and responsibilities, has long garnered national political interest. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has insisted that declining numbers of police staff, both clerical and frontline, “presents a serious risk to the safety of Londoners.” In an attempt to allay fears over the alleged... Read more...
Today the TaxPayers’ Alliance have released a damning report exposing the excessive travel expenses of NHS staff. For the first time, it can be revealed that taxpayers have forked out millions of pounds to pay for business class flights for bureaucrats in the NHS. Since 2015, staff at NHS quangos have taken... Read more...
A new report released by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has revealed the shocking cost of poor productivity in Britain and its impact on wages. Since the great recession, advanced economies have all been suffering from weak productivity growth, with few more afflicted than Britain’s. The scale of the issue is enormous, and the... Read more...
A new report out by the TaxPayers’ Alliance shows that the NHS could save nearly £800 million by merging various NHS management bodies.The report advocates reducing the number of quangos from 19 to 7: This would save approximately £760 million. This would also release top managerial time to improve efficiencies... Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) presents the eleventh Town Hall Rich List, the only comprehensive list of its kind, with council-by-council breakdown. Praised in the past by politicians on both sides of the House of Commons, it is the go-to guide for local government executive pay deals. It details the full remuneration and many of... Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance has looked at payments that the National Union of Students received from students’ unions, universities, government departments, devolved administrations and funding councils. Between July 2012 and January 2018, at least £50,145,280 was given to the NUS. Rather than focusing on students’ concerns about tuition fees or the... Read more...
238 Quango bosses in top 1% of earners The TaxPayers' Alliance has today released a 'Quangocrat Rich List', revealing details of the 238 Quango chiefs who are in the top 1% of earners. The report follows the announcement that Network Rail boss Mark Carne will step down this year after concerns about performance. CLICK HERE TO... Read more...
The South West of England has long suffered from poor transport infrastructure relative to the rest of England, with severe congestion on major roads and an often inadequate rail network. This note from the TaxPayers' Alliance argues that the money being spent on the Stonehenge tunnel could be significantly better-spent... Read more...
Seven years on from the introduction of the council tax freeze scheme in 2010 – a coalition government policy of providing grants to local authorities in England to allow them to freeze Council tax – it appears that the days of inflation busting increases are back. Although in 2010-11 there... Read more...
By Craig Mackinlay MP After several years of spending restraint, all quarters of the public sector are lobbying the chancellor for more money often claiming that there are no more savings to be made. But as this note shows, many public sector bodies are not getting value for money from... Read more...
As the debate around 'renationalising' the railways continues, and rail fares are due to increase yet again, a new report from the TaxPayers' Alliance shows that privatisation has actually been a good thing for commuters in the UK. CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL PAPER. Read more...
This year Public Health England has spent over £40 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 England approved Christmas lunch would look like. Click here for the full note. ... Read more...
The government's reiterations that the NHS should work more efficiently should be welcomed. Yet small changes to how it procures prescriptions could lead to significant savings. Doctors should not prescribe branded medicines when the non-branded alternatives provide the same benefits to patients. Whilst there are patented medicines which necessarily preclude... Read more...
New research by the TaxPayers' Alliance shows how the taxman sucks the Christmas cheer out of Brits by imposing stealth Christmas taxes. Christmas taxes, as calculated by the TPA, include the cost of VAT on holiday shopping such as Christmas trees, children's toys and alcohol. With the cost of living on... Read more...
IntroductionRead the full report here. Is inflation a tax? At first glance, it may be tempting to conclude that it is not. It does not appear anywhere on the statute books. Nobody is charged with collecting it. Yet just like a tax, it is a transfer of wealth not based on free... Read more...
Cutting EU Waste – The Taxpayer-Friendly Option for the EU’s Post-Brexit Budget Introduction In a separate Red Cell paper, William Norton reviews the impact of the UK leaving the EU on the latter’s finances. In short, the algebra means that the big donor countries pay up more to plug the gap. ... Read more...
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, recently claimed that further debt incurred under his treasury would “pay for itself”, optimistically assuming that the fiscal multiplier would cover the interest and principal through higher tax receipts. Government borrowing has to be funded and if capital is not attracted domestically (reducing private spending),... Read more...
The beer industry in the UK has invested billions more since the beer duty escalator was scrapped in 2013. Investment in 2016 was £1.96 billion, which is £800 million more than in 2013. 2013 was the year when the beer duty 'escalator' was scrapped and a planned 3p increase instead became a... Read more...
Read the full report. Since the 2014 autumn statement, stamp duty land tax (SDLT) on residential property purchases has been applied at a marginal rate of 2 per cent between £125,001 and £250,000, 5 per cent between £250,001 and £925,000, 10 per cent between £925,001 and £1.5 million and 12... Read more...