FACT 1: Tower Hamlets – one of the poorest boroughs in the country – employs over 27 people earning more than £100,000pa. FACT 2: The number of local government workers earning fat cat salaries is rising fast. 429 people were on over £100,000 last year. 578 people get over £100,000 this year. FACT 3: The […]
Yesterday’s ToryDiary reported the outline of George Osborne’s welcome statement on the need for the Tories to control Labour’s spending. The Daily Mail writes of "the prospect of large tax cuts" if the Conservatives are elected and choose to "put an end to Labour’s "tax and spend" economics." Leader-writers at The Telegraph also welcome George […]
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne will today promise to get tough on government spending: "Let me make this clear to you, to my colleagues, and to my party. Both David Cameron and I believe that the Conservative Party will never win elections by promising to spend more than Labour. And we will never persuade people that […]
Although ConservativeHome is worried about the Labour machine’s use of the emails gained from the Downing Street petitions here is a special post from Blair Gibbs of The TaxPayers’ Alliance: "As reported in the Mail on Sunday, and with the support of that paper, the TaxPayers’ Alliance has submitted our own Downing Street petition on […]
If you need a reminder of the extent of dependency created by Gordon Brown you only need to look at today’s Daily Telegraph. One in three households across Britain are now dependent on the state for at least half its income according to a Civitas analysis of DWP data. It is perhaps the great legacy […]
The Daily Express has this morning launched a campaign to abolish what it calls the "hated death tax." The newspaper’s political editor Macer Hall has set up a petition on the Number 10 Downing Street website "to ensure that inheritance tax is scrapped in this year’s Budget." You can add your name to the petition […]
A legal opinion commissioned by George Osborne suggests that Gordon Brown’s doubling of air passenger duty may be unlawful and passengers can refuse to pay it (Daily Mail). Mr Osborne said: "The increase in air passenger duty is an additional tax that adds to the already high cost of living and the rising tax burden, […]
18 Doughty Street’s campaign video on tax has just gone online and is downloadable here. I hope you consider it interesting enough to forward to your friends and colleagues. Newsnight previewed the video last night and interviewed Tim about the concept. Tim also expanded on the idea in The Times today. This morning the TaxPayers’ […]
The "UK is moving towards higher tax with no debate." So wrote the FT’s Martin Wolf in an article from October last year – shortly after Lord Forsyth’s Tax Commission had reported. I overlooked the article at the time but I have just Googled it after Andrew Marr referred to it in his exchanges with […]
Last May’s local elections were good for the Tories – particularly in London. Many of the gains were made on the back of policies that didn’t exactly fit with David Cameron’s priorities, however. Tories swept to power in Ealing, for example, partly on the back of opposition to proposals for a major tram scheme although […]
4.45pm: Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: "The best way to secure living standards long-term is by cutting tax and removing politicians from managing the economy and public services. But Brown’s PBR was a throwback to the 60s with its focus on how politicians can solve everything and boost science if they […]
I understand that page two of The People suggests that the great tax-riser Gordon Brown is about to announce a 2% cut in the basic rate of income tax. It may be a rubbish story but would be yet another example of the fashion for political cross-dressing.
George Osborne felt a bit of pressure at last night’s ConservativeHome Awards Evening for his cautious approach to relieving the burden of taxation but there was a warm welcome for his idea of giving taxpayers a website via which they can find out where their tax pounds are going. That welcome has been most pronounced […]
Government demands for the repayment of tax credits that it had overpaid are making many poor families’ pips squeak. Figures revealed by HM Revenue Customs, after parliamentary questions asked by the LibDems, show that: "Almost 200,000 families in the lowest 10% on the income scale were forced to repay £3,400 after they were overpaid tax […]
Caroline Spelman has reacted angrily to Labour plans to use ‘Big Brother snooping technology’ – being modelled in Northern Ireland – to make people living in desirable areas pay more and more council tax: "There is growing alarm about the Labour Government’s use of Big Brother computers to hike taxes. First, they want to log […]