Fight the foreign aid rise!

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Rishi's reparations?
At the COP27 summit this week, demands were made for countries like the UK to cough up cash to less developed countries. While Rishi appears to have ruled out ‘reparations’, the door has been left open for ‘loss and damage’ payments to be bumped up. The idea that hard pressed Brits, dealing with a cost of living crisis and with tax hikes on the horizon, should now stump up caused outrage!

Our chief executive, John O’Connell, gave our reaction to Daily Express readers. John blasted the proposals, rightly pointing out that taxpayers will be furious at the PM for making “more grandiose green pledges while public finances are in the red.”
[link removed]
TPA investigations manager, Elliot Keck, took to GB News to call out the latest claims on taxpayer cash ([link removed]) : “we’re looking at a potential freezing of income tax thresholds, that’s going to cause enormous damage to people over the next couple of years. And if they’re told that part of that is being used to fund conservation in the Congo basin, I think that really takes the biscuit.” Hear hear!
This is one of the reasons why we’ve launched a petition ([link removed]) to stop the government dishing out even more of your cash through the foreign aid budget. Make your voice heard loud and clear in Downing Street by signing the petition! ([link removed])

John also took our message directly to Tory MPs on Tuesday when he addressed members of the 1922 foreign policy committee. He reiterated that taxpayers don’t expect their money to be handed out overseas whilst being asked to pay higher taxes.

With no end to the demands for more of your money, we need your help today to keep fighting. Click here to support the TPA! ([link removed])
The wacky, the woke, and the wasteful
With an ongoing row about the Arts Council diverting funds from the London-based English National Opera to more regional projects, the latest TPA investigation ([link removed]) took a closer look at how the Arts Council spends your money.

Having spent hours poring over spreadsheets, Elliot was shocked by what he found.
Setting aside the mega £1.34 billion it’ll dole out over the next three years, the arts council have some serious questions to answer over which groups they’ve chosen for taxpayers to fund.

In The Daily Telegraph, which used our comments in their headline, Elliot raged against this disgraceful use of taxpayers’ money ([link removed]) : “Taxpayers around the country are fed up with seeing their hard-earned cash wasted on cultural claptrap.”
It’s clear that if they can’t get their act together, it’s time to bring the curtain down on the Arts Council.
The TPA's annual review
We’ve recently released our latest annual review ([link removed]) which showcases all of the work we’ve done over the past 12 months.
We’ve been busy taking our message right across the country, campaigning on the issues that matter to you. Have a read here. ([link removed])
TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
With the fiscal statement looming, TPA spokesmen were in high demand from the newspapers this week on all things tax and spend.
Tory tax rises

With yet more tax hikes and threshold freezes being touted ([link removed]) , TPA chief economist Duncan Simpson, didn’t hesitate in slapping down the latest lunacy.
Duncan railed against proposals to freeze tax thresholds (yet another stealth tax rise) branding them a "bitter blow" for taxpayers struggling with the cost of living ([link removed]) .
Whitehall wellness

New figures have been uncovered showing government departments have spent almost £500,000 on ‘wellness’ apps for civil servants.
John told Sir Humphrey some home truths in The Daily Telegraph ([link removed]) saying: “It will come as no relief to working households that civil servants are in a Zen state while precious resources are being wasted.”
Civil strikers

Clearly, wellness apps aren’t enough to keep civil servants at their desks. Mandarins may have voted for strike action, but in a rapid reaction quote ([link removed]) John was quick to point out that they shouldn’t expect sympathy from the taxpayers who pay their wages.
In remarks covered in the national media, he rightly pointed out that “bureaucrats already benefit from generous pay packets and plush pensions, with job perks and work from home privileges that many Brits can only dream of.”
Blog of the week
Higher alcohol taxes would be a bitter price to pay

With the 50th edition of the Good Beer Guide being released at the end of October, I’ve taken a look at how the price of a pint ([link removed]) has changed over the years.
Whilst many of us probably think we pay enough already, sadly, the chancellor feels differently. Hiking the price of the humble pint won’t just hit our wallets, it could hammer an industry still trying to get back on its feet post covid. Click here to read the blog. ([link removed])
War on Waste
Councils are notorious for questionable spending but this week, a TPA investigation revealed a real stinker.
In an exclusive with the Daily Star newspaper, we exposed how town halls across the country have flushed over £850,000 down the loo on air fresheners. Despite being supposedly ‘cash strapped’, councils keen to cover up the stench of wasted money aren’t fooling anybody.

Let me know if your council is wasting any cash. (mailto:[email protected]?subject=re.%20Weekly%20bulletin)

Benjamin Elks
Fundraising, Operations, and Events assistant

[link removed]

============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** [link removed] ([link removed])
** YouTube ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2022 The TaxPayers' Alliance, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in to receiving our updates, or we have a legitimate interest to contact you about our work.



TaxPayers' Alliance is a trading name of The TaxPayers' Alliance Limited, a company incorporated in England & Wales under company registration no. 04873888 and whose registered office is at 55 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QL.



You can read our privacy notice here: [link removed]
Our mailing address is:
The TaxPayers' Alliance
55 Tufton Street
London, London SW1P 3QL
United Kingdom
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
.