Latest blog posts
- Bankers and Tories: cashing in on anti-politics
3 Jul 2009: A leaked memo gives an insight into how the Conservative right hope to "ride the wave of anti-politics". (Post a comment) - Your right to know
3 Jul 2009: Heather Brooke is a brilliant freedom of information campaigner. But should she have teamed up with the TaxPayers' Alliance? (Post a comment) - Stupid quote of the month: July
3 Jul 2009: Muslim "criminals", "law-abiding" tax-payers – it can only end in tears. (1 comment) - Clever quote of the month: June
3 Jul 2009: Public sector pensions – and why Vince Cable isn't God. (Post a comment)
Latest links
- Privatisation has been a train wreck – Ken Livingstone, Guardian, 2 July 2009
- From Royal Mail to Post Bank – Jon Cruddas, Guardian, 2 July 2009
- We hate to say it, but there is a third way – Leader, New Statesman, 2 July 2009
- Privatising profit, nationalising loss – Dan Milmo, Guardian, 1 July 2009
What's wrong with the TaxPayers' Alliance?
The TaxPayers' Alliance is a tremendously successful campaign group. Barely a day goes by without Chief Executive Matthew Elliott appearing in the media, representing the views of "ordinary taxpayers". In fact never a day goes by: the Alliance boasts an average hit rate of 13 media appearances a day and puts the links on its website to prove it.
The problem is that it isn't an alliance of ordinary taxpayers at all. It is an alliance of right-wing ideologues. Its academic advisory council is a who's who of the proponents of discredited Thatcherite policies: Eamonn Butler and Marsden Pirie of the Adam Smith Institute, academics Patrick Minford and Kenneth Minogue, Margaret Thatcher's former economic advisor Sir Alan Walters, and others such as ex-Institute of Directors policy head Ruth Lea.
Not everything the TPA says is wrong. Who could disagree with its commitment to "criticise all examples of wasteful and unnecessary spending", or to putting 2012 London Olympic spending under scrutiny? But the Alliance's concern for better public spending is a stepping stone to its desire for less public spending. And far from being a voice for "ordinary" taxpayers, its policies – opposing all tax rises (what, for everyone, in any circumstance?) and backing a flat rather than progressive tax – will increase inequality and shift wealth from poor to rich.
Stop wasteful public spending
The TaxPayers' Alliance is right about one thing: the government has a responsibility to spend wisely and efficiently. And Labour has indeed squandered public funds through schemes like the Private Finance Initiative, and by shelling out huge subsidies to private train operators. Imagine our surprise, then, when we spotted high-profile recipients of such wasteful spending among TaxPayers' Alliance supporters. They include Malcolm McAlpine, Director of Olympics contractor and PFI provider Sir Robert McAlpine, and Sir Tom Cowie, Life President of Arriva, the train operator whose poor punctuality seems to grow in proportion to its subsidies. We demand that the government finds more efficient ways to spend our money.
Who pays for the TaxPayers' Alliance?
For an organisation so concerned with transparency, the TaxPayers' Alliance is surprisingly opaque about its own finances. No list of donors is available. It states only that all donations are from private sources and that no single donation accounts for more that 5% of income. But 5% of what? The Alliance's 2006 accounts record an income of £130,000 – up from £68,000 in 2005 – but that seems hardly enough to sustain 10 full-time staff and offices in London and Birmingham. Let's hope those staff are at least paid the minimum wage and claim any tax credits due to them. In 2007 the TPA published "abbreviated" accounts, which meant income and expenditure were withheld.
TaxPayers' Alliance quote generator
