Research papers

Cashing in: pension freedom for public sector workers

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...

Embracing technology in health and social care

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...

Town Hall Rich List 2019

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...

Socialism Factbook

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...

First aid: fixing international development

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...

Council award ceremonies

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...

Mandarins' pension pots

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...

Planning for intergenerational unfairness

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...

Nanny State Rich List 2018

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...

Nanny state approved Christmas lunch

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...

The tax on Christmas 2018

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...

Briefing: five more years of historic high tax burden

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 Reform

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...

Autumn Budget Briefing

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...

Restricting pensions tax relief

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...

Air Passenger Duty submission

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...

Public Sector Trade Union Rich List

Introduction Membership of trade unions, for both public and private sector workers, has been declining for many years: 23.2 per cent were members in 2017. Yet at least 31 bosses of trade unions with a high concentration of public sector workers were in receipt of remuneration in excess of £100,000... Read more...

Pensions Inequality

This study looks at occupational pension schemes, which are those set up by employers for the benefit of their employees. A contribution is made by both the employer and employee into these schemes. The government’s automatic enrolment initiative was designed to set up just such pension schemes.Specifically, the report compares... Read more...

Spending on mayoral cars

Local authorities across the country have spent over £4.5million since 2015 on cars for mayors’ usage. Mayors and council chairmen and women often fulfil ceremonial duties within their local authority and serve as the ‘first citizen’. Yet these generally mundane and little cared-for functions do not require the purchasing or... Read more...

Highest tax burden this year since 1969-70

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...

US Tax Cuts & Jobs Act: Six months on

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 Authority Flights

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: Better and cheaper public services

‘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...

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