It’s certainly been a busy week in Westminster. Friday’s ‘mini-budget’ was the big set piece and there was some welcome relief for taxpayers.
Ahead of the statement, our chief executive John O’Connell took to the airwaves and made the case for a low tax economy to GB News viewers across the nation. He explained why this is so important saying, “there’s a cost of living crisis, so tax cuts will make a meaningful difference to people”.
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On the day, the tax cuts came thick and fast. In our rapid reaction, the TPA called it “the most taxpayer-friendly budget in recent memory."
There were very welcome moves on personal taxation, with the abolition of the additional rate, cutting the basic rate of income tax cut to 19p, and scrapping the hated health and social care levy. We’ve campaigned vigorously to get the basic rate cut and the NI hike reversed. Both of these will massively help households struggling to make ends meet. After many months of calling for the income tax cut to be brought forward, this was a real highlight. Our petition, which thousands of you signed, made a real difference.
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Speaking about the NI reversal, John was widely quoted saying: “It never made any sense to introduce a tax which would see a huge hit to jobs and growth, just as the country was trying to get back on its feet”.
When reports emerged a few days beforehand that there were plans to cut stamp duty, swift TPA research showed that abolishing the tax would boost growth by a whopping £27 billion!
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Whilst the government fell short of abolishing stamp duty, cutting it and ensuring first time buyers will pay nothing on properties up to £250,000 will be a massive boost to young people who dream of getting on the housing ladder.
But the good news didn’t stop there.
The planned increases to Corporation Tax which would have hammered businesses at the worst possible time were abandoned.
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Despite the good news on the tax side, there was very little said about plans to get spending under control. But as Britain's waste watchdog, we’re not letting up in our fight for fiscal restraint.
We’ll continue to hold the chancellor’s feet to the fire and make sure he delivers the dynamic, low tax economy we so desperately need.
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TPA tax model leads post-budget analysis
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The mini-budget was a perfect chance to showcase our heavy hitting tax modelling.
Launched in March, our dynamic tax model has proved a vital tool in calling out the harms of tax hikes. So it was great to use it to show the benefits of tax cuts for a change! When word got out that we would be crunching the numbers, everyone from senior political advisers to leading journalists wanted to know what we would find.
Our research team were glued to their spreadsheets all day to work up the analysis, showing the chancellor’s tax cuts would boost growth by a massive £100 billion! As well as boosting growth, our modelling showed these tax cuts would see investment and weekly earnings soar!
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In the afternoon, we delivered a live briefing to the media with our friends at the Institute of Economic Affairs, attended by journalists from The Sun, The Telegraph, The i Paper and others.
No wonder then that our media phone was ringing off the hook - with our message all over the airwaves and featured in Britain's leading papers. In The Times, the TPA’s chief economist Duncan Simpson summed up the mood, declaring that, “the chancellor has been true to his word, providing a package that will have a significant impact on long run economic growth.” Finally, a taxpayer-friendly budget that, without your support for our relentless campaigning, we might never have seen.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Mickey Mouse degrees worth less
A TPA investigation has found that students who pay tens of thousands of pounds for degrees such as Football Studies, Tourism Studies, or Urban Practice earn less after five years than those who don’t go to university. The investigation involved our team scouring through hundreds of these dodgy degrees looking for any real value to them - we were, unsurprisingly, disappointed.
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In The Telegraph, I slammed universities for “saddling students with unpayable debts that will inevitably be paid for by taxpayers”.
It’s high time universities came clean on the value of their courses!
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Council’s IT incompetence
Shocking news emerged from Cheshire East Unitary Authority, where bungling bureaucrats had overspent by £13.3 million pounds on a new IT system. Without a hint of irony, the new system is supposed to help them manage their finances better…
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TPA investigations manager, Elliot Keck, took to BBC Radio Stoke to berate town hall bosses “you have to wonder what on earth they think it is they’re doing with taxpayers money”.
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BOGOF ban binned?
Reports surfaced last week that Liz Truss is planning to roll back the government’s nannying obesity strategy.
I’ve railed against bonkers BOGOF bans before and we’ve long argued against these sin taxes that punish poorer households and take away families' ability to choose what they buy
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Given the ongoing cost of living crisis, John took our message to The Times and blasted the proposed bans saying “Plans to end ‘buy one, get one free’ were only going to pile pressure on hard-hit households… Government cannot expect taxpayers to further tighten their belts”
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Fighting fires (and culture wars?)
We were shocked to discover that £17,000 had been squandered painting fire trucks in rainbow colours by Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Services. Dorset & Wiltshire even sought to defend the egregious spending saying it was “to promote inclusivity”.
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In comments made when we took the story to The Sun, TPA researcher Tom Ryan raged “Taxpayers are being ripped off in the rush to be right-on”.
Fire brigades should focus on fighting fires, not pricey pride paint jobs.
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Who should pay inheritance tax?
Earlier this week, there were calls for the new King, Charles III, to pay inheritance tax following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Elliot Keck took a look at the arguments on both sides for this week’s blog.
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We’ve long campaigned against inheritance tax and most recently called for the threshold to be raised to £1 million as a first step to abolishing Britain’s most hated tax.
As Elliot explains, we don’t think the King should have to pay. But we also don’t think you should either. Click here to read more
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Council ‘vanity project’ costs taxpayers dear
Last week, it emerged that Leeds City Council had splurged nearly £65,000 on road signs advertising their latest green initiative. The council has put up hundreds of signs plugging ‘relaxed mowing areas’ (sections of grassland being mowed less frequently) - essentially bragging about doing less…
This is off the back of town hall bosses hiking council tax as much as they could in April, with over £45 added to a typical Band D property in Leeds!
Despite local authorities claiming their budgets have been ‘cut to the bone’ somehow money is always available for PR exercises and pet projects. It’s high time town halls focused on delivering for taxpayers!
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Well it’s often said it’s best to go out on a high and I think I can say I’m doing just that. Today marks my last Weekly Bulletin for the TaxPayers’ Alliance. I’m delighted to have been able to bring you so much good news!
I’ve had five incredible years at the TPA and I want to say a big thank you to all our supporters.
Don’t worry though, the Weekly Bulletins will still be dropping in your inbox every Sunday morning. I’m handing duties over to the TPA’s brilliant Benjamin Elks. He’ll be sure to keep you informed of our fight for taxpayers up and down the country.
Farewell and best wishes,
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Harry Fone
Grassroots Campaign Manager
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