It's been a welcome return to grassroots campaigning in 2022 this week as the TaxPayers' Alliance descended on the London Borough of Havering to fight against a planned rise in council tax.
Despite having the fourth highest council tax bills in London, Havering council still wants to hammer hard-pressed residents with a 3 per cent rise. It comes after the authority created two additional cabinet posts at a cost of £58,712 to the public purse.
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Our research revealed that since 2000 Havering residents have seen their council tax increase by 122 per cent in cash terms. With many households facing a cost of living crisis we called on the council to make sensible savings and stop the rise.
In 2020-21 the authority employed 16 members of staff with remuneration in excess of £100,000. That's up from 14 the previous year. Fat cat pay is one area where simple savings can be made.
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Many residents we spoke to said they were fed up with year-after-year of council tax rises. They were furious at how much council chiefs were paid. It simply isn’t fair that town hall bosses are digging ever deeper into people's pockets, when they should focus on getting their own house in order.
But we are winning! Not only has our campaign received widespread coverage in the local press but also the backing of many councillors. With no party in overall control of the council, it could only take a few votes to defeat the rise.
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We've heard that a number of councillors are indeed planning to vote against the proposed budget on March 2nd. We can win this fight!
That's why we're heading back to Havering next week to keep the pressure on. We'll be focussing our efforts in key wards and urging more councillors to vote down the rise. Now is the time for them to take a stand on behalf of their residents.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Ministers must tackle sky-high public sector pay
On Thursday The Telegraph revealed the head of the NHS, Amanda Pritchard, has a pay packet that is "almost a third more than her predecessor." According to the paper, government figures put her salary between £255,000 and £260,000. She replaced Simon Stevens in August 2021 who was paid £195,000 to £200,000.
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Adding insult to injury, further analysis by the Daily Mail on Friday showed that 675 NHS managers are "taking home salaries of more than £150,000".
The news comes as taxpayers are set for an increase in national insurance from April as part of a £12 billion spending splurge on the health service.
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John O'Connell once again stood up for taxpayers and urged the government to act, telling journalists, "Spiralling public sector salaries fly in the face of taxpayers facing rising tax bills. No one begrudges paying doctors and nurses well, but it's hard to justify such sky-high wages for NHS bosses, to be paid for by the new health and social care levy. Ministers must get a grip on soaring public sector pay-packets before bringing in any more tax rises.”
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Now is a terrible time for any tax rise
And the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show exactly why the government shouldn't be hiking taxes. With inflation at a worrying 5.5 per cent, it can act as a stealth tax on unsuspecting taxpayers.
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In our comments picked up by the Daily Express, John told readers, "With households facing a cost of living crisis, now is a terrible time for any tax rise, including freezing thresholds. Instead of adding to the pressure, ministers should implement targeted tax cuts to give taxpayers and businesses under the cosh some much-needed respite."
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Wales to trial Universal Basic Income
The Welsh government has outlined its plans to trial Universal Basic Income (UBI) for young people leaving care. The proposed scheme will see 18 years old leaving care entitled to £1,600 a month for two years.
It is hoped that doing so will support the most vulnerable in society. But as we've previously explored, UBI is a shot in the foot rather than a silver bullet.
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A point that our research director Duncan Simpson was keen to echo when he spoke to listeners of Jeremy Kyle's talkRADIO show. He pointed out that whilst children in care do need support, Wales' is already spending more on benefits per person compared to the rest of the UK.
The Welsh government isn't being realistic about the scheme. It should focus on better ways to support people and get them into gainful employment after they leave care. Click here to watch a clip from the interview.
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Britain's national debt still soaring
A new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has laid bare the staggering cost of servicing Britain's national debt. It is estimated that surging inflation will increase debt interest payments up to £69 billion - that's £11 billion more than was forecast at last year's budget.
We've previously shown that Britain's real national debt, when all liabilities are factored in, is almost £10 trillion. These latest figures should serve as a wake-up call for the scale of the financial challenge facing us, not just today but for years into the future.
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As we made clear in our comments to the Daily Mail, "Interest payments rising to match the size of large government departments is taxpayers’ money not being spent on frontline public services."
Ahead of the Spring Statement will be urging the chancellor to get a handle on spending and stop debt from spiralling any further.
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Prince Andrew shouldn't expect taxpayers to fund personal payouts
There have been suggestions in the media that Prince Andrew could receive compensation from the taxpayer if he is forced out of his home in Windsor. This has raised questions about whether the cash will be used to fund his financial settlement with Virginia Giuffre.
Speaking to BBC News, Duncan Simpson was adamant the public had a right to know how Prince Andrew was funding his financial settlement with Giuffre.
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Duncan told presenter Victoria Derbyshire, “If it is indeed the case that some of it is from the sovereign grants then I think it is quite important the royal family let people know - be that through the annual report, which the royal household has to publish every year, or through a normal press release.”
Given he's no longer a working royal, Prince Andrew should not expect British taxpayers to foot the bill for his personal payouts. Full transparency is essential to protect taxpayers' cash from being used improperly. That principle should apply to anyone in receipt of or spending taxpayers' money, prince or pauper.
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Taxes add fuel to the fire
This week our colleagues down under at the New Zealand Taxpayers' Union celebrated #FuelTaxHonestyDay. It’s part of their campaign against the extortionate rate of fuel taxes, which currently make up 52 per cent of the price of petrol in Auckland.
As our media campaign manager Danielle Boxall writes this isn't an anomaly, British fuel taxes are higher than any other country in Europe. 56 per cent of the price you pay at the pump goes to the taxman.
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However, with electric vehicles growing in popularity in the push to go green, the government’s trusty revenue raiser may no longer be a reliable source of income. A recent report recommends that the government replaces VED and fuel duty with a new pay-per-mile road pricing system.
Drivers are already overtaxed as it is. A new road pricing system cannot just be a tool for the taxman to replace lost revenues. Any road pricing system should be set up to give drivers a fairer deal. Click here to read more.
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The TaxPayers' Alliance always keeps a keen eye on government transparency data to ensure that every penny of your money is accounted for and spent properly.
After poring over a recent release we discovered that the highest-paid diversity officer in the public sector is making just as much money as the Prime Minister.
Loraine Martins is Network Rail’s Director of Diversity & Inclusion. She is responsible for ensuring the railway is more “open, diverse and inclusive“. For this role, she receives taxpayer-funded remuneration of between £160,000 to £164,000 a year!
We'll continue to call out quangocrat pay and we're ramping up the pressure on ministers to sort excessive pay once and for all.
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Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
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