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With parliament in recess, this week was a chance for real issues to get the airing they so rarely do amid the noise from Westminster. Britain’s most hated tax, inheritance tax, was front and centre of the conversation when Nadhim Zahawi joined over 50 MPs who took up the TPA’s call for it to be scrapped!
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In a piece for the Daily Telegraph, the former chancellor cited TPA work highlighting the numerous exemptions and distortionary effects of the death tax. Our media campaign manager, Conor Holohan, writing in the Daily Express a couple of weeks ago made exactly these points and rightly went on to say: “Simplifying inheritance tax would be a start, but perhaps the Government should simply let people keep what relatives worked so hard to give them.”Â
Unsurprisingly, as the voice of taxpayers, our media phone was soon ringing off the hook with broadcasters wanting our spokesmen on their shows. TPA digital campaign manager, Joe Ventre, kicked things off when he spoke to Patrick Christys. As Joe explained, inheritance tax no longer just hits the most well off (if it ever did): “What we’re seeing now is that more and more people are being brought into this tax… This tax is supposedly reserved for the very well off but that just simply isn’t the case anymore.”
Just a few hours later, our investigations campaign manager, Elliot Keck, was in the studio with Nigel Farage. In a wide ranging discussion, Elliot told Nigel and GB News viewers across the country just how unfair and unpopular death duties are: “It’s unbelievably unfair… This is a tax that even those people who don’t pay it realise just how unfair it is.” You can watch the full exchange here.
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As the only group fighting the taxpayers’ corner, we’ll always do our best to put a stop to ineffective and immoral taxes like the death tax. It’s time inheritance tax was laid to rest once and for all!
You can join us in the fight for the lower, simpler tax system we all deserve by clicking here to donate and backing the TPA today.
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The TPA guide to wasteful spending
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As well as battling for a fairer tax system, our team is constantly exposing waste across all levels of government. Regular readers will be well aware of our ongoing War on Waste campaign.
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This week, we launched a brand new section of our website detailing all the waste we uncover, providing an invaluable resource to the public, politicians, and journalists alike. This one-stop-shop for examples of waste is a must read for anyone who thinks all tiers of government need to provide better value for money (and it’s probably worth checking next time a politician comes to canvas your vote). You can check out the page here.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Improving procurement
One of the biggest ways the government squanders taxpayers’ cash is through their contracts and procurement programs. That’s why we’ve lent our support to an amendment to the Procurement Bill currently going through parliament.
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The amendment would require ministers to set out clear objectives when awarding a contract and introduce a traffic light system for big projects to indicate value for money. Speaking to the Times, our managing director, James Roberts, said: “Agreements are often signed without any serious debate about what outcomes should be expected, and underperformance only comes to light long after contracts have already been renewed.”
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Unrepresentative unions
During a week of travel chaos thanks to rail unions, and more disruption planned in other areas, we crunched the numbers on new statistics detailing trade union membership. Amongst the figures published by the business department was a breakdown of just how unrepresentative unions now are.
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With union membership of just 12 per cent for private sector employees, and dropping to less than 50 per cent for public sector employees for the first time since records began, the disruption caused by militant strikers sticks in the craw. Writing for the Daily Telegraph, TPA researcher Jonathan Eida called out the increasingly petty and political motivations for striking, pointing out: “If union membership numbers are anything to go by, it seems that workers are increasingly rejecting this agenda.”
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Croydon’s CCTV cock-up
Croydon council has long been on the TPA’s radar. Having gone bankrupt no less than three times, you’d have thought those making decisions would be paying attention to how they’re spending ratepayers’ money.
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Unfortunately, the local authority managed to splash out on cameras designed to catch rat-running motorists but which are incompatible with UK number plates. Conor blasted the latest cock-up from town hall bosses, telling Sun readers: “Bankrupt councils can hardly afford these embarrassing bungles. Local authority leaders are constantly wasting taxpayers’ cash and driving their budgets into the ground.”
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The four-day week experiment
Following the TPA research into a four-day week for the public sector being raised at Prime Minister’s Questions, in this week’s blog, Conor has looked through the evidence of existing trials with a fine-tooth comb. As expected, the radical plan doesn’t stand up well to scrutiny.
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As Conor rightly says: “The four-day week is riddled with uncertainty for organisations that take part in it… with the quality of public services potentially on the line, this ideological experiment must not become the norm in the public sector.”
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Ensuring sufficient school places is a key responsibility for many local authorities. Unfortunately, not all councils pay proper attention when building new schools and, in the case of Renfrewshire, it’s set to cost local taxpayers dearly.Â
Having cost £18 million, a new primary school designed to take up to 1,100 pupils can only accommodate 430. Town hall bosses will now be borrowing to pay for additional buildings which, over the course of the loan, look set to cost taxpayers £160 million! Councils must get a grip and show proper respect to taxpayers’ money!
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Benjamin Elks
Operations Manager
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