Official statistics released today show that wages have fallen again after accounting for inflation. While consumer prices rose by 2.7 per cent last year, wages were just 1.4 per cent higher in the last quarter of 2012 compared to 2011. This means real wages are down 1.3 per cent. The... Read more...
Profits made from parking charges by Wandsworth Council, south London, rose by 79% to an eye-watering £16m last year, according to an analysis of figures for 2011-12 by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). An ever bigger percentage rise—the biggest in the country—was achieved by Kingston Council, also in south... Read more...
It didn't rain in Manchester for the TaxPayers' Alliance Action Day last Saturday. We were protesting against those Greater Manchester councils raising Council Tax. Instead of accepting the Government's offer of a grant in exchange for a freeze (something Salford and Trafford are doing), many Greater Manchester authorities are raising... Read more...
Writing for the Spectator Coffee House blog Matthew Sinclair argues that a Mansion Tax would be an ugly political gesture and a huge burden on those forced to pay while the idea that capital income is ‘unearned’ is beneath contempt. Read more...
The TaxPayers' Alliance has been running an important campaign - with new research, a viral video and the StopFundingArgentina.org e-petition - to stop British taxpayers' money being used to support loans to Argentina. We called on the Government to join the United States and other European countries in voting against... Read more...
Bolton has become the latest council in Greater Manchester to announce a Council Tax rise. It plans an increase of 3.5 per cent, and is wriggling out of a local referendum in exactly the same way as Manchester, Oldham, and Rochdale. Only Trafford and Salford have so far announced a freeze.... Read more...
Cornish councillors have reacted to the national mood of austerity by cutting their own pay—or more properly, not taking increased allowances they had voted for back in October. The u-turn motion to freeze their allowances was tabled last month and passed this week. Read more...
The Government have announced that, instead of increasing the threshold for Inheritance Tax to £1 million as they promised, the threshold will be frozen. That will mean more and more people paying unfair death duties, on money that has already been taxed. Allister Heath wrote for the Daily Telegraph this... Read more...
In an interview given to BBC Radio Humberside last week, the leader of North East Lincolnshire Council, Cllr Chris Shaw, accused the TPA of costing the authority £70K a year in freedom of information (FOI) requests. This, of course, was untrue, as were his accusations that we issue FOIs for... Read more...
The Institute for Fiscal Studies yesterday published their 2013 'Green Budget', detailing their assessment and predictions of both the public finances and the wider economy. The document makes for depressing reading for the Chancellor, George Osborne. In particular, they noted: Read more...
A Cornish barber who used a loudhailer to warn drivers when he saw traffic wardens has been put on a ‘cautionary list’ of people viewed as a threat to council workers’ safety. Liskeard barber Andy Blackwell decided it was his civic duty to help local taxpayers avoid paying more money... Read more...
**Updated 15/02/12** Labour-run Salford City Council has announced it intends to freeze Council Tax for 2013-14. Conservative-run Trafford is the only other Greater Manchester authority to announce a freeze. Manchester has announced an increase of 3.7 per cent, and both Oldham & Rochdale have announced rises of 3.5 per cent.... Read more...
The Daily Telegraph has revealed further, hidden costs to the taxpayer of high-speed rail. Now council taxpayers who live along the proposed route will be expected to cough up even more for the white elephant. With each family in the UK already paying well over £1,000 for the benefit of... Read more...
George Osborne made much of the importance of controlling the deficit in the run up to the 2010 general election. There were two key aspects of his approach. He would eliminate “the bulk” of the deficit by the end of this Parliament in 2015 and this reduction would be accounted... Read more...
Yesterday, Matthew Grove, Humberside's Police and Crime Commissioner, announced he intends to freeze the police precept for 2013-14. Good news, especially as last year the precept was hiked by 4 per cent, and in the last decade it has gone up by over 80 per cent. Hopefully next year there... Read more...
With the Coalition intent on hitting the arbitrary target of spending 0.7 per cent of our national income on international aid, the Department for International Development is awash with taxpayers’ cash and short of ideas on how to spend it. Read more...
Communities Secretary, Eric Pickles, has today announced a crackdown on what he describes as a "secret state" of unelected quangos pushing up Council Tax bills for householders. This is partly in response to the decisions of Manchester, Oldham, and Rochdale councils to increase Council Tax bills in 2013-14 by 3.5... Read more...
While Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles blasts some councils across England as ‘democracy dodgers’ by raising council tax just below the 2% required to trigger a referendum, other councils are quietly going about the business of freezing their council tax. In the South West, Somerset County Council (SCC) is freezing... Read more...
Trafford Council has today announced it will freeze Council Tax in 2013-14 and aspires to a freeze again the following year. This is great news for local residents, especially as many other Greater Manchester councils have announced plans for an increase. Rochdale and Oldham have announced a 3.5 per cent... Read more...
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is looking to continue its recent tradition of delivering tax cuts for hard-pressed residents. Council Leader David Burbage proposed a substantial reduction of 3 per cent in the next financial year. It is the fourth year in a row that the Council will... Read more...
Trafford Council has today announced it will freeze Council Tax in 2013-14 and aspires to a freeze again the following year. Read more...
Rochdale Council is planning to increase Council Tax in 2013-14 by 3.5 per cent. It is refusing to let residents decide in a local referendum if they approve or disapprove of this rise. As I wrote last week, Rochdale is not the only Greater Manchester authority to act in this... Read more...
Getting back to basics is what one lone campaigner in Swanage, Dorset, is calling for. As councillors spend taxpayers’ money on fact-finding jollies to far flung parts of the world, it is good to be reminded that what we expect for our money is simple, basic services, like filling in... Read more...
On Saturday 16th February, the TaxPayer's Alliance will be holding a protest against proposed hikes in Council Tax across Greater Manchester. At the end of last year, Rochdale Council announced plans to increase Council Tax by 3.5 per cent. The Localism Act requires councils to hold a local referendum if... Read more...