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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Public sector exit payments
Regular readers will recall that the TaxPayers' Alliance has long campaigned for a cap on "golden handshakes" paid to outgoing council bosses. In a number of cases these payments have exceeded £100,000. For example the former chief executive of West Sussex County Council was handed £265,000 of taxpayers' money as part of a leaving settlement.
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In his address to the House, Sir Christopher praised the TaxPayers' Alliance in bringing this matter to the public's attention. It was great to see that members from all sides of the House are supportive of the cap. Indeed, John Spellar MP argued that those who failed to perform their jobs satisfactorily should receive no payment whatsoever.
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Minimum unit alcohol pricing in Wales
A freedom of information request by the TaxPayers' Alliance has revealed the Welsh Government is paying a PR company £70,000 of taxpayers' money for an awareness campaign about the introduction of minimum alcohol pricing. Drinkers in Wales have recently been subjected to a minimum retail price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol.
The money allocated to the campaign will be used to purchase, "materials and advertising targeting retailers, leaflets and information for service providers (and a range of other settings), including print and direct mail costs."
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Commenting on the revelations for South Wales Evening News I told chief reporter Martin Shipton:
“The overpowered nanny state should not have so much cash that they can hire PR men to try to spread their message of control yet further... to hand them hundreds of thousands to promote their bossy message is especially rich."
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Why a carbon tax would be bad for Britain
Our media campaign manager Sam Packer recently took part in a panel discussion hosted by the ZeroCarbon campaign. It was broadly agreed by the hosts and panelists (although not by Sam) that the UK needs some form of carbon tax in order to achieve the desired decline in carbon emissions.
However, as Sam argues in the TPA blog this week the government would be unwise to introduce yet another tax as consumers will feel the negative effects. He writes, "a tax on producers is guaranteed to see a hike in the costs of car ownership, home ownership, development and essentially anything that requires energy".
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Sam goes further and explains why free markets have been almost miraculous at reducing carbon emissions, "The magic of the market is that it adapts to what consumers want. As the public in the west has grown more wary of pollution, it has dropped drastically. The incredible tale of human development in the past two centuries is one in which consumer capitalism is the main character."
Consumer pressure in a free market will achieve far more than a new tax ever could.
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Ringing off the hook
Blackburn with Darwen council is splashing the cash on a new set of smartphones set to cost taxpayers £56,000. The council insists it's a necessary measure to allow councillors access to computer software and improve cyber-security.
However, the decision to splash out on more technology is not a smart move. Councillors are already entitled to a ‘digital package’ which includes a tablet device; it is secure and allows councillors access to emails and sensitive information.
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Taxpayers should not be forking out money on items which are not essential to the day-to-day work of councillors. The council should call time on supplying smartphones and instead invest in services that local residents actually need.
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Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
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