"Embarrassingly weak" Recall Bill overshadows Queen's Speech, says TaxPayers' Alliance
Responding to the Queen’s Speech, Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: Read more...
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TPA Action Day in Surrey Heath
On Friday the TaxPayer’s Alliance was in Surrey Heath talking to residents about Council Tax, which has now risen for two years in a row there. In neighbouring Bracknell Forest, the average Band D household pays £250 less in Council Tax than Surrey Heath, despite no discernible difference in services... Read more...
Nigel Farage, Ukip’s emerging tax policies and a Negative Income Tax
Nigel Farage confirmed yesterday that Ukip are not likely to repeat their 2010 General Election manifesto pledge to abolish employee's National Insurance and introduce a flat rate of Income Tax. The policy was to merge employee's National Insurance (then charged at two rates of 11 and 1 per cent) with... Read more...
TPA in Tatton
The TaxPayers' Alliance yesterday journeyed to Tatton, the constituency MP George Osborne yesterday to raise awareness of Tax Freedom Day, which is when the average Briton stops working for the taxman and starts working for themselves. It is calculated by the Adam Smith Institute and it's a reminder of exactly how... Read more...
How to celebrate Tax Freedom Day much earlier in the year
It might not have felt like the most momentous morning yesterday underneath a particularly grim grey sky: according to the Adam Smith Institute, for the first time this year you were working for yourself not the Government. Read more...
Is less government better government?
Last night I debated 'Is a Smaller State a Better State' at the Bristol Festival of Ideas, with Labour peer Maurice Glasman and the Observer's chief leader writer Yvonne Roberts, chaired by the Observer's assistant editor Julian Coman. Read more...
Happy Tax Freedom Day!
Every year, the Adam Smith Institute calculates Tax Freedom Day - the first day in the year when you finally begin to earn for yourself. Read more...
Supporters' Action Day in Swansea
Supporters of the TPA were out in Swansea last weekend, collecting signatures against the Council’s move to increase Council Tax by 5 per cent. Read more...
Comment: New Zealand Centre for Political Research
Our Policy Analyst Alex Wild has written for the New Zealand Centre for Political Research, outlining the need for welfare reform here in the UK. Read the piece in full here. Read more...
Bath council’s costly bus lane fiasco
The fiasco of Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) council’s ill-advised bus lane has dominated the local news for the last couple of weeks, but now questions are being asked about the cost of it all. Public anger at the high level of fines charged on unsuspecting motorists as they... Read more...
Dos and Don'ts from Down Under
Joe Hockey, the Treasurer of Australia (the equivalent of our Chancellor of the Exchequer) delivered his first budget yesterday with speedy deficit reduction the clear priority. Australia’s public finances are in far better shape than Britain’s. Read more...
Big expenses at big NHS quango
Another day, another example of wasteful spending in the NHS – this time with the NHS England board the guilty party. During the first year of the organisation’s existence, top-level officials managed to run up an expenses bill of almost £200,000 on travel, hotels and restaurants. All of that, of course, is... Read more...
IFS is right to slam our tax code. Simpler, fairer, lower taxes now, please!
Institute for Fiscal Studies Director Paul Johnson has delivered a devastating critique of the complexity and inefficiency of tax policy across the political spectrum, castigating both the current and previous governments and all three major parliamentary parties. Among the items singled out for criticism were: Read more...
Ten reasons for HMRC to think again on direct access to bank accounts
Mike Down of Baker Tilly has written ten reasons for HMRC to think again about their plans for direct access to taxpayers' bank accounts, for his colleague George Bull's Weekly Tax Brief email: Read more...
More funding for GPs would ignore the need for fundamental reform
The Sunday Times reported yesterday that 800,000 patients were turning to A&E departments and walk-in centres because they are unable to get an appointment with a GP. Read more...
Bath Council lavishes money on traveller site
Bath & North East Somerset (B&NES) council is lavishing taxpayers’ money on five-star pitches for travellers. It plans to spend some £1.8m on constructing an official site for travellers to park their caravans near the Lower Bristol Road, but some are questioning the high level of amenities being provided. Read more...
We need to reform our tax system, not Gary Barlow's OBE
A judge has ruled in favour of HMRC in a case against Take That crooner Gary Barlow and others using the Icebreaker scheme, declaring their use of the scheme against the rules. Read more...
Politicians don't pick winners. They should leave AstraZeneca's decision to its shareholders
American Pfizer wants to buy British AstraZeneca so it can shut down research and development operations in Britain to increase the combined entity's profits, which will then be sent to America. Moreover, their plan to domicile the firm in the UK is only for tax reasons, which could evaporate when... Read more...
HMRC plans could be a "recipe for disaster"
The Treasury Select Committee has expressed concern over the proposals to allow HMRC access to taxpayers' bank accounts. Andy Silvester, our Campaign Manager, said: Read more...
TaxPayers’ Alliance "War on Waste" is coming to a high street near you
Last year the Government spent £718 billion of our money – but far too much of that delivered little or no value for money. That is why, earlier this year, we launched the War on Waste – a new campaign to expose government waste and make the case for lower... Read more...
Surrey County Councillor allowance hikes condemned by TaxPayers' Alliance
The TaxPayers' Alliance has condemned yesterday's vote by Surrey County Councillors for massive increases to a range of their allowances. Read more...
New Chief Exec of IPSA receives bumper pay deal
It has today been announced that the newly appointed Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) is to be paid £120,000 – around £15,000 more than his predecessor. Read more...
Getting back your voice
In my new book, Protest Vote, I tell the story of how politicians have lost touch with their voters—lost the plot—and how protest vote parties and grassroots campaign groups have fought back. Read more...
Bath shopkeepers petition against council parking charges
Bath shopkeepers gathered outside the Guildhall in the centre of the city to hand in their petition to Bath & North East Somerset council (B&NES), with over 1400 signatures from shoppers and traders protesting at the recent rise in council parking charges. Read more...