The TaxPayers' Alliance reveals today that a massive £1.1 billion was paid last year in Business Rates on empty properties, a rise of 19 per cent between 2009-10 and 2011-12. Click here to read the full report Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance can today reveal that there are 28,754 local authority staff paid over £50,000 a year, which cost taxpayers £1.9 billion in 2011-12. The cost of paying these staff is the equivalent of 7.5 per cent of Council Tax receipts. This bill is down 12.5 per cent from last year but 118 councils increased the amount spent... Read more...
For the first time, the TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal the number of different tax-raising and tax-cutting measures since the 2010 election that the Coalition Government has implemented or is planning to implement during this Parliament. To read the full report, click here Read more...
With spending restraint needed across the board, it is vital that police forces improve their efficiency. Crime prevention does not have to suffer. This report reveals figures for each police force – gathered using data from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary – and compares how many police officers and Police... Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) can today reveal that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has spent over £1.5 million on 3,496 flights over the last two and half years. Of these trips, 362 were business class at a cost of nearly £600,000. The destinations of these flights include far-flung locations from Johannesburg to Jakarta while DECC staff... Read more...
Earlier this month Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude announced plans to reduce the amount of facility time taken in the civil service. This will cut the subsidy that unions receive at taxpayers’ expense. There would still be a substantial subsidy though, and the reforms do not yet apply to the... Read more...
Government departments could have saved a potential £112 million on their estates bill if all departments were to use space as well as the most efficient departments. Read more...
Public sector organisations have to make cuts to their staff numbers in order to ease the pressure on the public finances. However, some are still hiring. This research note reveals TaxPayer's Alliance research showing that Ofcom, the communications quango, has spent £9.4 million on redundancies over the last five years at the... Read more...
Despite much vaunted efficiency drives across Whitehall, departments continue to pay vastly differing prices for basic items such as A4 paper and energy. Read more...
This briefing - by barrister Francis Hoar, a member of Field Court Chambers in Gray’s Inn - examines whether “many public sector employers have...approached ‘facility’ time in the manner envisaged by industrial relations law.” Read more...
We reveal for the first time the massive difference in basic allowances paid to councillors in local authorities around the UK. Full data for each local authority can be found here. Read more...
With modern communications, many long distance journeys are now increasingly unnecessary. Local authorities facing significant pressure on their finances should be working to cut their travel costs and avoiding all unnecessary flights. Despite that, new research by the TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal that councils in the North East have recently spent hundreds of... Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) can today reveal for the first time a substantial rise>in the number of former council staff drawing pensions compared to the number in work and paying into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). The new research also reveals that when the one million deferred members of the scheme... Read more...
Many major environmentalist groups have received substantial subsidies from the European Union since 1997 under the LIFE+ programme. Read more...
The 2020 Tax Commission is a joint project between the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), Britain’s independent grassroots campaign for lower taxes, and the Institute of Directors (IoD) Europe's largest membership organisation for business leaders. The Commission's final report calls for radical but realistic reform of our tax system, that is vital to kick start growth.... Read more...
Since 1958 and for over half a century, there has been no significant reduction in the costs of raising each pound of tax in Britain. This is despite decades of technological progress and dramatic improvements in productivity in the wider economy. There are serious concerns that the complexity of Britain’s taxes imposes substantial costs on... Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) proudly presents the sixth Town Hall Rich List, the 'Who's Who' of local government fat cats, detailing the job titles, full remuneration and many of the names of all local council employees earning over £100,000 for the financial year 2010-11. These details have been taken from accounts published by councils... Read more...
Medicine Use Reviews (MURs) were introduced in 2005 as a service offered by pharmacists. Read more...
In the face of union pressure local authorities and other public sector organisations have been reluctant to accept the need for necessary pension reforms. Read more...
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has revealed that £28.5 billion of tax revenue has been lost to the illicit market in spirits, beer, cigarettes, hand rolling tobacco and diesel between 2005-06 and 2009-10. To read the full report, click here Read more...
In October 2011 the TaxPayers’ Alliance exposed how much money was spent on flights by councils in the Midlands. Read more...
This research note provides new estimates for the total amount of direct and indirect tax paid by average and poor households over their lifetimes. The estimates are calculated on the basis of a working lifetime of 40 years and 15 years of retirement; the results are quite shocking... Read more...
At a time when public sector pensions are under the spotlight, we reveal the true cost to taxpayers of ‘employer contributions’ to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Read more...
As part of our campaign for better transparency and accountability in Quango spending, the TaxPayers’ Alliance can reveal the three and a half million pounds the Child Support Agency has spent on its taxpayer-funded credit cards over the last two years.As reported in this weekend's Sunday Express, this spending includes... Read more...