Campaign
Today’s public sector strikes
Public sector workers are out on strike again today but in much smaller numbers. The unions taking part today are the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), the largest civil service trade union; Unite, representing NHS workers, Ministry of Defence firefighters and others; the University and College Union; the Immigration Services Union; Rail, Maritime and [...] Read the rest of this entry »
First binmen, now MPs: iPads could be rolled out across Parliament
Many would consider an iPad a luxury, non-essential item but this week it was revealed that all 650 MPs could soon be getting one, paid for by taxpayers. This was the recommendation of the Commons Administration Committee chaired by John Bercow, the Commons Speaker who called for the “rapid roll-out of suitable mobile tablet hardware”. [...] Read the rest of this entry »
First binmen, now MPs: iPads could be rolled out across Parliament
Many would consider an iPad a luxury, non-essential item but this week it was revealed that all 650 MPs could soon be getting one, paid for by taxpayers. This was the recommendation of the Commons Administration Committee chaired by John Bercow, the Commons Speaker who called for the “rapid roll-out of suitable mobile tablet hardware”. [...] Read the rest of this entry »
The public sector merry-go-round must grind to a halt
Lucrative pay-outs followed by new contracts of employment are not uncommon in the public sector. However at a time when essential savings must be found, it is even more important that the so-called public sector merry-go-round grinds to a halt. Only last week we exposed the record number of council employees receiving pay and perks [...] Read the rest of this entry »
TaxPayers’ Alliance in Grantham campaigning against Fuel Duty increase
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) will be holding an action day in Grantham on Saturday 28 April to oppose the planned 3p per litre increase in Fuel Duty announced in the Budget. Motorists in Britain pay the highest Fuel Duty in Europe and also pay Vehicle Excise Duty and VAT on top of that. TPA research revealed that drivers in South Kesteven district pay the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
TaxPayers’ Alliance in Grantham campaigning against Fuel Duty increase
The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) will be holding an action day in Grantham on Saturday 28 April to oppose the planned 3p per litre increase in Fuel Duty announced in the Budget. Motorists in Britain pay the highest Fuel Duty in Europe and also pay Vehicle Excise Duty and VAT on top of that. TPA research revealed that drivers in South Kesteven district pay the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Town Hall Rich List mentioned in PMQs
Within hours of the 2012 edition of our Town Hall Rich List being published, its findings were being raised with David Cameron on the floor of the House of Commons at Prime Minister’s Questions. Burton MP Andrew Griffiths echoed our concerns about the exorbitant salaries enjoyed by many top executives in local government and urged [...] Read the rest of this entry »
COMMENT: Government proposes to filter legal content for child safety
Writing for The Commentator, Dominique Lazanski argues that the government continues to suffer from poor research, ‘fag packet’ proposals and a general lack of understanding of the web issues that face the UK today. Today, a cross party group of MPs announced widespread filtering of the Internet in the UK. Under the proposals, the group has said [...] Read the rest of this entry »
COMMENT: Staring into the public sector pensions abyss
Writing for Public Service Europe, Emma Boon argues that the £54 billion deficit in local government pensions isn’t going away without reform of council pension funds. If you have ever worried about not paying your credit card off at the end of the month or lost some sleep over an overdraft, then spare a thought for the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
COMMENT: Tax transparency treats the symptom not the cause
If we worry about politicians dodging taxes, attack the dodging, not the privacy, writes the Matthew Sinclair for the New Statesman. Do we really want to live in a country where politicians have to hand out their tax returns, medical history and birth certificate to the press, like they do in the United States? I [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Black market blues: why the UK must close the tax gap on tobacco, fuel and alcohol
Writing for The Commentator, Emma Boon explains that as long as taxes on tobacco, fuel and alcohol are high, the Government will fail to tackle the serious and growing problem that is the illicit market. A few weeks ago nearly 50,000 illegal cigarettes and 50kg of hand rolling tobacco worth £19,000 were seized by HM [...] Read the rest of this entry »
COMMENT: Taxpayer funding of political parties would damage our democracy
Writing for Politics.co.uk, Robert Oxley explains how taxpayers got a terrible deal from bailing out the banks and would get another bad one for bailing out politicians. The allegation that Tory donors were able to effectively buy access to the Prime Minister have intensified the debate over how we fund politics in Britain. Following a [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Follow up letter to HMRC re. Ken Livingstone
I have written a follow up letter to HRMC today, following the re-classification of donations made to Ken Livingstone’s campaign in light of the questions relating to his tax affairs. The letter is reproduced below, and you can read my original letter to HMRC here. The letter from the Electoral Commission to Greg Hands MP [...] Read the rest of this entry »
Unions try to mislead taxpayers over the public sector pay premium
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has today published a report showing the difference in the average hourly pay of public and private sector workers. It shows that the pay gap was around 8 per cent in 2011, with the public sector coming off better. It is staggering that, despite the desperate need to reduce [...] Read the rest of this entry »
A stealth tax on reading
Back in 2010, I posted a blog on the fact that ebooks are taxed at the normal VAT rate while regular books are VAT free. Since that post VAT has risen to 20% and, disappointingly, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has yet to remove VAT on eBooks. It is still ridiculous that the UK treats the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
A stealth tax on reading
Back in 2010, I posted a blog on the fact that ebooks are taxed at the normal VAT rate while regular books are VAT free. Since that post VAT has risen to 20% and, disappointingly, the Chancellor of the Exchequer has yet to remove VAT on eBooks. It is still ridiculous that the UK treats the [...] Read the rest of this entry »
COMMENT: Osborne’s Big Fat Gypsy Budget
Writing for Politics.co.uk, Emma explains how George Osborne is now casting the net wider and wider to tax more of the things we all enjoy with his Big Fat Gypsy Budget. Unlikely as it sounds, the Budget has two things in common with popular television programme My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding: controversy and caravans. Perhaps [...] Read the rest of this entry »
COMMENT: Osborne’s Big Fat Gypsy Budget
Writing for Politics.co.uk, Emma explains how George Osborne is now casting the net wider and wider to tax more of the things we all enjoy with his Big Fat Gypsy Budget. Unlikely as it sounds, the Budget has two things in common with popular television programme My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding: controversy and caravans. Perhaps [...] Read the rest of this entry »
What exactly is happening with age-related allowances?
At the Budget, George Osborne announced that, as well as increasing the personal allowance, he would freeze and over time work to remove the age-related allowances as a way of simplifying the tax code. Since then those changes have become known as the “granny tax” and it appears they may be the most controversial measure [...] Read the rest of this entry »
What exactly is happening with age-related allowances?
At the Budget, George Osborne announced that, as well as increasing the personal allowance, he would freeze and over time work to remove the age-related allowances as a way of simplifying the tax code. Since then those changes have become known as the “granny tax” and it appears they may be the most controversial measure [...] Read the rest of this entry »
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