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Ahead of Conservative party conference today, the TaxPayers' Alliance can reveal that the Labour Party is more trusted to keep taxes low than the Tories. In an exclusive with the Sunday Telegraph, our survey of over 2,000 people found that 34 per cent trust Labour over the Conservatives at just 31 per cent to stop Britain's tax burden from rising.
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Working-class voters were even less trusting of the Conservatives - just 22 per cent saw the Tories as their best option to keep taxes low. Similarly, our polling revealed that the cost of living was one of the biggest issues facing many families across the country.
Taxpayers are facing the highest tax burden in 70 years, and are crying out for politicians to relieve the pressures whittling away the money in their wallets. Hard-working households and struggling firms know that things are only likely to get worse over the coming months.
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The budget in October is an opportunity for the chancellor to prove the Tories still care about cutting the cost of living for ordinary taxpayers. We'll be sure to hold Rishi's feet to the fire at our conference fringe event. If you can't make it in person stay tuned to Twitter and YouTube where we will be live-streaming the discussion.
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ÂŁ11 billion spent on "ridiculous" research
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On Thursday we revealed that in 2019-20Â Â ÂŁ11 billion of taxpayers' cash was spent on research and development. That's an increase of over ÂŁ1 billion since 2017-18. Naturally, R&D doesn't come cheap but what is particularly worrying are the righteous and ridiculous projects that have received funding.
The complex grant funding system has seen taxpayersâ money fund projects which âpromote gender and intersectionalityâ or âengage audiences of all ages with dinosaurs and robots.â
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The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) spent almost ÂŁ5 million to work on âan international network of scholars, policymakers and practitioners to promote gender and intersectionality.â
In another bizarre example, Innovate UK gave over ÂŁ4.5 million to a project called âDinosaurs & Robotsâ, which âwill explore how immersive technologies can be used to engage audiences of all ages with dinosaurs and robots in new ways and create a range of valuable learning and entertainment experiences.â
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Some of the ridiculous research projects that taxpayers have been made to fund are hard to believe. So with this in mind, we created a quiz to prove our point. Answer 10 true or false questions to see if you can spot the genuine projects from the made up!
Taxpayers expect money to go towards groundbreaking projects and innovative technologies, but not to be wasted on righteous or ridiculous research. The current system rightly scrutinises projects throughout the application process but lacks effective measures to judge value for money on projects that have already been funded.
If research budgets are to continue to grow, ministers must address the real effectiveness of R&D spending by putting more focus on project outcomes.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Big on pledges but short on policies
On Wednesday Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer addressed Labour conference to set out his vision for Britain were he to win the next election. Our media team analysed every word of his speech and within minutes of it ending we fired off our comments to the nation's press.
The next day our media campaign manager Danielle Boxall appeared on Mike Graham's talkRadio show to give her thoughts on the speech. She pointed out that Sir Keir had big and expensive plans for Britain but "there's no plan for where all this money is coming from!" Click here to watch a clip.
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The Labour leader made encouraging noises about the cost of living and taxpayers will be pleased with his principle that working people and small firms shouldnât be hammered by high taxes.
But the key question is how would he do it? The TaxPayers' Alliance is telling politicians of all parties to take note. They need to explain exactly how they will cut Britainâs record tax burden.
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TPA calls on chancellor to cut taxes
Thursday brought promising news for the country after the latest GDP figures by the Office for National Statistics revealed growth of 5.5 per cent in the second quarter of 2021.
But we're not out of the woods yet as our chief executive John O'Connell told CityAM, âThe public finances might have experienced a summer to remember. But with looming tax hikes hitting hardworking families and businesses, these positive signs of recovery could soon fall flat."
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The upcoming budget is the perfect time for the chancellor to boost the economy by committing to tax cuts, eliminating red tape and supporting taxpayers and businesses.
We're just weeks away from the autumn budget and the TPA will be piling the pressure on the chancellor to give taxpayers some much need respite.
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Should petrol stations implement big price hikes to help fix the current fuel crisis?
It probably hasnât escaped your attention that motorists are facing long queues at petrol stations, amid panic buying and reports of fuel shortages across the country. With this chaos at the pumps, should petrol stations be hiking prices to curb demand and preserve supply?
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I argue they should, temporarily hiking prices would reduce panic buying because for the most part, only those that have a genuine need for fuel would purchase it. But my colleague James Roberts disagrees pointing out that price gouging would punish working people hardest. Their demand is inelastic, but theyâre more hammered by higher prices. Click here to read more.
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Quids Inn: TPA pays a visit to HM Treasury
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A big thank you to the thousands that have supported our campaign to extend the hospitality VAT cut. On Wednesday we handed in our petition to the Treasury. But despite our calls, which also had the backing of dozens of industry campaigners, the reduced rate of VAT went up to 12.5 per cent on Friday.Â
But the war against price hikes doesnât end here! This monthâs budget could mean even more blows to publicans and punters if beer duty goes up. |
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At the TaxPayersâ Alliance we have railed against hikes in alcohol duty. Our 2013 âMash the Beer Taxâ campaign was a huge success and saw the first cut in beer duty since the 1950s. And in 2017, our follow up campaign led to the government freezing beer duty again.
So weâll be fighting to freeze alcohol duty - or even better, cut it - so that the price of a pint doesnât leave punters out of pocket this Christmas.
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John was rightly angry that this news comes at a time when Brits have suffered a £36 billion tax hike because the NHS needs more money. He argued that the government ought to be looking at ways that we can save money to fix our problems at home - without asking taxpayers to pick up the bill! Click here to watch a clip.
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Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
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