|
Our latest piece of hard-hitting research has revealed that 38 top civil servants enjoy pension pots worth more than ÂŁ1 million. In the first year of the covid pandemic, 187 of the most senior civil servants had a cumulative pension pot of ÂŁ123 million, worth an average of ÂŁ657,128 each. This was enough to pay for the annual state pension for around 13,464 pensioners.Â
|
|
Former Foreign Office mandarin Lord McDonald is enjoying the largest pot valued at a whopping ÂŁ2.2 million! Also of the Foreign Office, Sir Philip Barton saw the largest increase in the value of his pension pot, growing by ÂŁ321,000 to ÂŁ1.7 million.Â
Senior civil servants already earn top salaries and these pension pots are well beyond the reach of most of the taxpayers who are paying for them. That's why the TaxPayers’ Alliance is calling on the new government to crack down on overgenerous pension arrangements in the public sector.Â
|
|
Our research made a big splash in the media with coverage in The Express, The Sun and The Daily Telegraph.
It's not hard to see why our research has been so well received. Working taxpayers and pensioners feeling the pinch are shocked at the extent of these million-pound pension pots. Senior civil servants enjoy retirement packages that dwarf the deals for most private sector workers. But all the while the taxpayers who pay for them see their own savings squeezed.
We're making it crystal clear to politicians that they need to end the Whitehall retirement racket and crack down on overgenerous pension arrangements in the public sector.
|
|
|
Grassroots news: Edinburgh
|
|
|
|
The next leg of The Town Hall Rich List will see us north of the border in Scotland's capital, Edinburgh. We'll be asking local residents whether they think 29 council bosses receiving remuneration in excess of ÂŁ100,000 represents good value for money or not.
|
|
|
If you'd like to join our campaigning efforts please get in touch. And don't forget you can use our interactive map to compare town hall bosses' remuneration across the country.
|
|
|
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
|
|
|
Rotherham set to be "Children's Capital of Culture"
Despite being hit by a huge grooming scandal, Rotherham is set to become the country's inaugural Children's Capital of Culture in 2025.
You read that correctly, this is not a joke. The year long 'celebration' is forecast to cost the taxpayer around £2 million. The local authority said it would be "365 extraordinary days... of imagination, creativity and community. Packed with music and magic. Dance and drama. Films and food. Exhibitions and events".
|
|
|
Commenting on the news to Daily Mail readers, our chief executive John O'Connell was scathing of the plans, "Taxpayers are tired of shelling out for tin-eared cultural schemes. Households are funding ever more capitals and boroughs of culture, yet these pet projects often do little more than keep bureaucrats busy. The first Children's Capital of Culture should be scrapped and funding funnelled into frontline services."
|
|
BBC bias and the licence fee
There's been a fair bit of controversy surrounding the BBC this week after Gary Linker and former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis made the headlines. Lineker was critical of MPs over their vote on the Environment Act and led one BBC News hack to call him out on his impartiality.
Similarly, Maitlis alleged that there was “active agent of the Conservative party” on the BBC board. Quite apart from the fact that left-wing figures - and even a former Labour cabinet minister - have had senior roles in the Beeb, one wonders why Maitlis felt this reinforced the case for a TV tax!
|
|
|
Taking the BBC to task our digital campaign manager Joe Ventre spoke to listeners on TalkTV and explained this is precisely why the licence fee is outdated. He pointed out that it's no surprise that so many people are choosing not to pay the TV tax and that the corporation is "doomed to failure" adding "it's time to let the BBC stand on its own two feet." Click here to watch the interview in full.
|
|
Taxes must be easier to pay
On Monday CityAM reported, "The number of businesses fined by HMRC for deliberately obscuring their corporation tax affairs has climbed to its highest level in four years". According to the paper, just over 60 firms were fined for "purposefully sending incorrect information".
|
|
John took the opportunity to explain why we need a better tax system, "Taxpayers will be shocked to see the number of businesses not paying their corporation tax on the rise. With businesses choosing not to pay the levy, it shows how outdated it has become and the complexity of Britain’s tax system."
Â
We're telling ministers to make taxes easier to pay by lowering and simplifying them, making sure that those who don’t pay their fair share face the consequences.
|
|
NHS wokery costs time and money
Off the back of our research into NHS wokery, which landed on the front page of the Daily Mail, we were invited onto GBNews to discuss our findings. Speaking to Andrew Doyle on his Free Speech Nation show, our investigations campaign manager Elliot Keck laid down the law on the NHS' frivolous spending.
|
|
Elliot highlighted the litany of examples of woke staff networks that have cost the taxpayer at least ÂŁ1 million. These schemes cost the public a small fortune and worse still they take up many many hours of staff time.
We're urging health chiefs to scale them back - the public will thank them for it. Click here to watch a clip from the interview.
|
|
The case against water renationationalisation
It wasn't just our NHS research that captured GBNews' attention. Following our analysis of water leakage, I was invited onto Liam Halligan's On The Money show to discuss why renationalisation of the industry would be a bad idea.
|
|
|
I told viewers that while companies can perform better on leakage, private firms are outperforming nationalised firms such as Scottish Water. Adding, "Where we do see greater competition in markets, we do get better services and better prices." We'll be keen to stress this message to the new government in the coming weeks.Â
|
|
There’s something backwards about Onward’s stamp duty proposal
The think tank Onward believes it has a solution to encourage the uptake of heat pumps. They propose that buyers should receive a rebate of up to 50 per cent on their stamp duty bill if they install “energy-efficiency measures and heat pumps” within 24 months of moving into a new property.Â
However, as I explore this week it's an interesting idea but like many tax policy gimmicks, it’s too clever by half.
|
|
This policy alone won’t encourage home buyers to invest in energy efficiencies and heat pumps. In a lot of cases, there just isn’t enough financial reward, unless the cost of heat pumps falls dramatically. It would further complicate the tax system to the benefit of wealthy homeowners.
What should be done about stamp duty itself? Well as the TaxPayers’ Alliance has suggested, why not simply raise the SDLT threshold to £1 million, so that only millionaires pay? Click here to read the full story.
|
|
Britain's worst council art
There's less than a week to go until voting closes on our competition to find Britain's worst council art. Our research has found that local authorities alone spent almost £15 million on art since 2019!
|
|
With this in mind, we've selected some of the most questionable displays for this competition to decide Britain's worst council art!Â
Place your vote and we'll crown the winner on Friday 2nd September.
|
|
Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
|
|
|
|
|
