New research by the TaxPayers' Alliance reveals that councils are paying their staff millions more than they should in mileage payments. HMRC has an approved rate for mileage payments, and yet 173 councils are giving their employees above that rate.The TPA first exposed this needless waste of taxpayers' money back in 2011, and... Read more...
Tuition fee hikes, planning policies and lifestyle taxes all hit younger people hardest by making education, housing and entertainment more expensive. The government should lighten the load it places on young people, but abolishing tuition fees or making student loan repayment terms even more generous would be unfair to those... Read more...
Executive summary The UK economy has performed reasonably well in recent years after a period of sluggish growth following the great recession. Unemployment is at its lowest point since early 1975. However, wage growth has remained slow, and many households are struggling to cope with the cost of... Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal that €87 million has been handed to environmentalist campaigns in the UK and the rest of the European Union in the last ten years. British taxpayers have contributed to this budget. Taxpayers are paying twice: once for the grants, and again in higher energy bills... Read more...
Our research reveals that 45 public sector trade union bosses receive more than £100,000 each year in salary and benefits. This places them comfortably within the top 5 per cent of earners in the UK. Click here to read the full report. Read more...
Despite a narrative of squeezed public services, the wages, salaries and pensions of those in taxpayer-funded positions are all on average more generous. Since 2009, gross median annual salaries in the public sector were on average 12.4 per cent higher than the private sector. Click here to read the full... Read more...
Local authorities in England have seen dramatic changes to their funding since 2010 with more changes in the pipeline. The government announced in 2015 that within five years, local authorities will be able to raise and keep all revenue from business rates. Additional powers over how council tax is raised... Read more...
The UK spends almost double the rest of the EU combined on large procurement contracts, and much less on smaller ones, research finds. The United Kingdom published 167 contract award notices on contracts worth €100 million or above. France published 29, Italy 25 and Germany 5. These are worth altogether €73.77 billion and accounted for 52 per cent of such notices... Read more...
This summer millions of British families will head off for a well-earned holiday. But before they do many of the simple but important purchases they make are subject to tax. Items such as clothes are subject to VAT, whilst travel insurance purchases are hit by Insurance Premium Tax (IPT). The... Read more...
In the wake of the 2017 general election, much commentary has focussed on the impact public spending cuts had on the result. Less attention has been paid to assessing by how much public spending has actually been reduced. Click the link here for our latest research note on government spending. ... Read more...
The House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee have reported back on their inquiry into government accounts - and how to ensure the taxpayer can properly scrutinise them. We are delighted that the Committee have taken several of our recommendations on board. You can read their full report... Read more...
For the tenth consecutive year, the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has compiled the most comprehensive list of council employees in the UK whose total annual remuneration exceeds £100,000. This year’s Town Hall Rich List covers the 2014-15 and 2015-16 financial years, the most recent full years for which data is available.... Read more...
Facility time is paid time-off taken by trade union representatives to carry out ‘duties’. It has been the focus of major reforms in central and local government, as well as the civil service over the past few years. The TaxPayers’ Alliance has previously revealed how trade unions have received large... Read more...
Our submission to the Treasury Select Committee on the sustainability of the tax base. Read the submission here Read more...
The recent storm over business rates centres on the upcoming revaluation of commercial properties, which comes into effect on 1st April 2017. It is the first revaluation since 1st April 2010. and the valuation practice itself has changed in the wake of a 2015 judgement by the Supreme Court. Combined... Read more...
Despite the huge financial risks and recurring records of failure and late delivery, large infrastructure projects are much coveted by politicians seeking a legacy. There is too often scant regard for how much it will cost taxpayers. Bent Flyvbjerg, the Chair of Major Programme Management at Oxford University's Saïd Business... Read more...
To read the research paper, click here In 2010 the former Chancellor, George Osborne, called the tax system a ‘spaghetti bowl’. He was spot on: the UK tax system is hideously complicated, with far too many reliefs and exemptions meaning the Tolley’s tax guides now run to nearly 22,000 pages.... Read more...
To read the research paper, click here For the full dataset, click here With the large real-terms budget increases the NHS has become accustomed to no longer possible given the state of the public finances, the NHS desperately needs become more efficient. In the 2014 NHS Five Year Forward View,... Read more...
The government is reportedly considering plans to permit English local authorities to increase Council Tax to ease funding pressures on the social care system. Council Tax increases are an insufficient response to the significant demographic pressures facing public services. Of course, a big part of the solution lies in health... Read more...
When introducing the Soft Drinks Industry Levy, the then Chancellor, George Osborne, added that the revenues from the tax would be “tied directly” to funding sport and other activities in schools. This briefing paper looks at the likely effects of the tax and associated spending on the public finances. Read... Read more...
For most people, buying something means working to pay for it. The more expensive something is, the longer we have to work to earn the money to buy it. But how much of the time we spend working to buy something is needed to pay for the purchase itself, and... Read more...
Taxes on capital income are poorly designed. In particular, the UK corporate tax system is a mess, fundamentally designed for another age. It’s in desperate need of comprehensive reform. Capital gains tax and corporation tax are taxes on income streams which are particularly harmful to economic performance. They should be... Read more...
Every year Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) estimates how much tax revenue is lost to the black market. The annual report, Measuring Tax Gaps, is an annual report looking at a range of ways in which HMRC loses out on revenue from a range of direct and indirect taxes.... Read more...
Government Payment Cards (GPCs) are used in the public sector to purchase a range of goods or services from basic office supplies to the wages of temporary staff. They can simplify high-volume, low-value transactions and provide flexibility. Scrutiny is however important. In 2012 the National Audit office confirmed that while... Read more...