Since Jeremy Hunt increased the council tax referendum threshold to five per cent in November, we’ve been bracing ourselves for a swathe of tax hikes across the country.
Nothing could have prepared us for the news from Croydon, Slough, and Thurrock though. Taxpayers in Slough and Thurrock can now expect to see their rates go up by a stonking ten per cent, whilst Croydon residents could be on the hook for a monstrous 15 per cent rise! But there’ll be no referenda as the government has given special dispensations to avoid them.
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As the voice of taxpayers, our team was on hand to issue a rapid response with our chief executive, John O’Connell, pulling no punches. In comments covered by some of Britain’s biggest newspapers, John pointed out that: “Time and again, bungling bosses have left council finances deep in the red, expecting hard working residents to bail them out.” Meanwhile, commenting on the case of Croydon in particular, our investigations campaign manager, Elliot Keck, told MyLondon: “Local taxpayers face being forced to bail out an incompetent council at a time when household budgets are already squeezed.”
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Despite supposedly being on the verge of bankruptcy, a TPA investigation has exposed Hampshire county council has doled out over £756,000 in bonuses in a single year! This is on top of more than £200,000 in vouchers doled out since 2019.
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TPA finance director, Emma Bennett, was in Winchester to give us an update from the ground. As Emma rightly says: “with the council’s finances teetering on the brink, local taxpayers are going to be seriously wondering about the sustainability of the bonuses.” If you think councils should get their spending in order before going cap in hand to central government or their local taxpayers, click here to sign out petition.
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TaxPayers' Alliance in the news
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Tax rises are not the answer
After the governor of the Bank of England said tax hikes were the ‘safer option’ to fund public sector pay rises, our digital campaign manager, Joe Ventre, spoke to Kevin O’Sullivan to call out the idea of ever higher taxes.
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In a wide ranging conversation, Joe told TalkTV viewers: “If you go and talk to people on the street… and talk to ordinary taxpayers, business owners, they’ll say there’s absolutely nothing safe even about the current rate of tax that we have, nevermind even raised taxes.” Quite right!
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Leviathan wokes
The depths of government waste seem to know no bounds. When it emerged this week that a government quango had splashed out £44,000 in a grant to develop a virtual reality, calming sea creature, it’s safe to say we were less than impressed.
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Our media campaign manager, Conor Holohan, got right to the crux of the issue, telling The Sun: “With the long tentacles of the state taking ever more in tax, now more than ever precious funds should be used properly.”
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MP medal madness
The TPA has always taken a dim view of parliamentary profligacy. So when a committee of MPs called for medals and a cash sum of up to £162,000 to be given to those leaving Parliament or booted out at the ballot box, we were having none of it.
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Our managing director, James Roberts, slammed this latest nonsense idea, telling Daily Mail and Daily Star readers: “Taxpayers would take a dim view of washed-up politicians being rewarded with a medal. Being elected to Parliament should be privilege enough.”
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The January War on Waste roundup
In this week’s blog, Elliot brings us his latest War on Waste summary. Lowlights included the BBC’s 10 part Shamima Begum propaganda series and £5 million spent on NHS management consultants.
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As Elliot points out though, it was the millions in diversity spending which really took the biscuit, with woke public sector budgets simply out of control. Click here to read more.
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A TPA investigation this week has uncovered the sort of activities striking NHS staff may be missing out on. Two NHS trusts have spent 2,000 hours of staff time on 15 events and lectures, which included four black history month celebrations, six ‘LGBTQIA Awareness’ sessions, and two full-day conferences celebrating National Nurses Day and the Allied Health Professionals.
Time should be spent treating patients and clearing backlogs, not on this kind of needless nonsense! |
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Benjamin Elks
Operations Manager
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