Introduction Stamp duty land tax (SDLT) is levied on property transactions above a threshold (£125,000 for residential properties and £150,000 for non-residential properties). By introducing another charge on homeowners to the already costly process of moving, SDLT means that for some people who might consider moving, the benefits no longer... Read more...
Introduction Inheritance tax is levied on the estate of someone who has died. It applies to the value of the estate above the £325,000 threshold currently in place, and is charged at a single rate of 40 per cent. Exemptions currently in place include transfers between spouses and civil partners,... Read more...
Introduction Council tax rose at an average of 4.5 per cent in England, and in every local authority in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in April 2019. It is often claimed that local services are being squeezed, so the amount spent on press officers could be considered a low priority... Read more...
Background The TaxPayers’ Alliance does not take a position on whether or not the United Kingdom should leave the European Union. However, it is important that in any possible situation arising from that decision taxpayers’ interests are represented. This note is therefore intended to suggest tax policy changes which, in... Read more...
Introduction Universities are funded by both taxpayers and students (including graduates) directly. Because of this mixed form of funding, it often seems that the university sector is spared the scrutiny usually applied to other public sector institutions. In 2018, however, the Office for National Statistics re-classified student loans so that... Read more...
Introduction The United Kingdom consistently ranks towards the top of league tables in terms of ease of doing business. Many prime ministers and chancellors have recognised the importance of low taxes and light regulation in order to make the UK a competitive and attractive place to do business. In many... Read more...
Introduction Membership of trade unions, for both public and private sector workers, has been declining for many years: 23.4 per cent were members in 2018. In the public sector, it is at the lowest level since records began in 1995, down by more than 5 per cent to 11.6 per... Read more...
Key findings In an analysis of 10 recent and in-progress UK major government projects, overruns have grown to a total of 32.7 years and £17.2 billion, or £624 per UK household1. The £17.2 billion accumulated overrun could have paid for seven of the 10 projects at their initial cost estimates,... Read more...
You can download a PDF copy of the "Freedom Factbook" here Freedom works. Lower taxes and limited intervention in the economy don’t just create the space for innovation, growth and prosperity. They also tend to enhance civil liberties and radically improve lives, particularly for people on lower incomes. Free enterprise... Read more...
Introduction This research looks at the taxes and charges involved when someone passes away. In 2019-20, the government is projected to receive £5.35 billion from grieving taxpayers via inheritance tax, the highest amount ever. But this is only one of the many ways that the government extracts money from the... Read more...
Introduction Settlement agreements are legally binding agreements between an employer and an employee that set out the terms surrounding the termination of employment. The purpose of settlement agreements is to resolve any disputes between the two parties that could not be resolved as part of internal procedures, and prevent future... Read more...
Unitary authorities have been in place in many parts of the UK for almost 25 years. Whilst savings have been realised since their creation, concerns have also been raised. This includes worries about democratic accountability with these larger authorities, and areas of spending where savings have not materialised as expected.... Read more...
Introduction This research looks at the number of commercial properties owned by local authorities that were vacant for either all or some of a 2 year period from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2017. The research includes information on what councils spent insuring, maintaining, refurbishing and providing security for... Read more...
Introduction: The tax burden in the UK is now at a 50-year high: taxes reached 34.6 per cent as a proportion of GDP in 2018-19, the highest level since 1969-70.[1] Whilst efforts have been made to lower the amount of direct taxes that are paid by the poorest, such as... Read more...
Crossrail 2 is a £36 billion project to link south west and north east London rail services via new tunnels between Wimbledon and Dalston through central London. A new TPA report has found that £11 billion could be saved with cost reduction measures The report also suggests that there are separate, smaller projects... Read more...
The case for scrapping High Speed 2 (HS2) gets stronger by the day. Increasingly, people from across the political spectrum are waking up to the fundamental issues which have plagued this project. Whether it be the spiralling costs, environmental damage, consistent mismanagement or overwhelming unpopularity of the project, the tide... Read more...
Introduction Since 2010, the deficit has reduced from £181.5 billion to £23.3 billion in constant prices. Part of the way in which this has been achieved is through reducing the public sector headcount and restraining pay. In the same period, the number of public sector workers has fallen from 6.4... Read more...
This paper is the second in the TPA series investigating automation in the public sector. In our first paper we set out the benefits for taxpayers, public sector workers, and the economy of increasing the rate of automation in the public sector. These benefits include public services being delivered in... Read more...
In 2017-18: There were at least 2,441 council employees who received total remuneration in excess of £100,000. That's 135 more than in 2016-17. 607 council employees earned over £150,000. A total of 28 local authority employees received remuneration in excess of a quarter of a million pounds in 2017-18. The local authority with... Read more...
You can download a PDF copy of "The Little Red Book" here Socialism has never worked, wherever it has been tried. The consequences have been broadly as harmful as the implementation has been faithful, with the very worst from Marxist and Stalinist communist regimes. It has led to unspeakable... Read more...
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...