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TaxPayers' Alliance

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The TaxPayers' Alliance is a British pressure group formed in 2004 to campaign for a low tax society. The group claims to have over 18,000 supporters[citation needed]. According to their website, the mission of the TPA is:

"To reverse the perception that big government is necessary and irreversible; to explain the benefits of a low tax economy; To give taxpayers a voice in the corridors of power; To oppose EU tax harmonisation."[1]

The group has been accused of hypocrisy and possible illegality after it was revealed that it has been claiming tax relief on donations it receives from wealthy backers.[2]

Directors

Matthew Elliott[3] is the current Chief Executive of The Taxpayers' Alliance, which is a member of the Stockholm Network.

In October 2009 Mr. Elliott admitted that another director of the group, Alexander Heath, had not in fact paid any British taxes for several years as he resides in a farmhouse in the Loire in France[4].

Prominent supporters

In November 2004 and December 2005, the Alliance sent letters to the Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph in opposition to high taxation.[5] The signatories included Adam Afriyie, Tim Congdon,Howard Flight, Ruth Lea, Patrick Minford, Andrew Roberts, Lord Salisbury and Roger Scruton.

Other TPA named supporters include Stuart Wheeler (who donated £5m to the Conservatives before he endorsed the UK Independence Party), Sir Rocco Forte (hotelier); and Sir John Craven (chairman of mining group Lonmin)[6].

Media exposure

In 2009, The TaxPayers' Alliance was mentioned 29 times by The Guardian, was quoted in 517 Daily Mail articles, 317 times in The Sun - including once by a topless model on page 3[6].

Party affiliation

Although the TaxPayers' Alliance isn't officially affiliated with any political party, it has been accused as being a Conservative Party "front".[6] "This is an arms-length Tory front operation run by big powerful business interests who want to remove themselves from paying tax by poisoning the well of public debate around the issue," said Labour MP Jon Cruddas.[6] Polly Toynbee in The Guardian and Kevin Maguire in The Daily Mirror have also levied this charge,[7][8] although the group's leadership has denied it.[9] All three founders, and a number of TPA staff members have associations with the Conservative Party and have strong links with the Freedom Association.[10][11][12]

However, when Nick Ferrari asked TPA's Campaign Manager, Susie Squire whether she was "secretly Conservative?", she rejected the accusation;[13]

Ferrari: “Susie, are you [The TPA] secretly Conservative?”
Squire: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I can’t have that – that’s outrageous! That’s just absolutely outrageous!”
Ferrari: “Why is he wrong in what he says? [The accusation]”
Squire: “Because we’re totally independent, we talk to everyone...We don’t have a party preference...”

— LBC breakfast radio show

Funding

The Taxpayers' Alliance is constituted as a limited company in the UK - number 04873888. As a small company, they are exempt from audit which means that they meet two of the following criteria:

  • annual turnover of £5.6 million or less
  • balance sheet total of £2.8 million or less
  • fewer than 50 employees.

They have two offices – one in London and one in Birmingham. Their website shows that, in March 2009, they employed 13 members of staff.

Donations

Sixty per cent of donations come from individuals or groups giving more than £5,000. The Midlands Industrial Council, which has donated £1.5m to the Conservatives since 2003, said it has given around £80,000 on behalf of 32 owners of private companies.[6] David Alberto, co-owner of serviced office company Avanta, has donated a suite in Westminster worth £100,000 a year, because he opposes the level of tax on businesses.[6]

Construction magnate Malcolm McAlpine and a spokesman for JCB tycoon Sir Anthony Bamford, have said they also helped fund the TPA.[6]

Campaigns, issues and publications

Bumper Book of Government Waste

Since 2005 the Alliance has published an annual book, The Bumper Book of Government Waste, detailing perceived financial mismanagement in government departments, local government, devolved government, The Royal Family and the European Union. [14]

Council Spending Uncovered

The Council Spending Uncovered Campaign uses accounts from every local authority in the United Kingdom, obtained through Freedom of Information requests, in order to "review spending by local authorities in all corners of the UK and identify a number of budgets that could and should be reduced....[the campaign] enables taxpayers to judge for themselves whether their money is well spent." [15] The Alliance argues that "By trimming the fat from their budgets, councils can reduce the burden on hard-pressed families and pensioners without cutting important services." [15]

So far the campaign has criticised:

  • £450 million of spending on local government publicity.[16]
  • a nine-fold increase in the number of local government staff earning £50,000 or more[17]
  • that the "outdated" Local Government Pension Scheme, which costs £4.6 billion in employer contributions each year [18], described by the TPA as equivalent to £1 in every £5 of council tax.

Google Government

The TPA is a leading proponent of "Google government", arguing that taxpayers have a right to scrutinise how their money is being spent, and citing the success of similar initiatives abroad, for instance USAspending.gov, which was established by the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 in the USA. To that end, TPA publishes information on public spending on its website, including the council by council data of the Council Spending Uncovered research series and the What's My Car Tax? database which allows people to find out how the 2008 Budget will affect their car tax.[19]

MPs' Expenses

The Alliance has called for more accountability and transparency in Parliament. In the aftermath of the Derek Conway scandal over the misuse of funding for political researchers, the TPA has called for greatly increased transparency, improved scrutiny of expenses and the abolition of some expenses such as the allowance for MPs' second homes.[20] The Alliance has also written to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to request an investigation into the expenses of Michael Martin, the current Speaker of the House of Commons. They have not, however, argued for commensurate levels of accountability from pressure groups that receive commercial funding, and critics have argued that they are only in favour of transparency from people who are elected, as opposed to transparency for organisations that conduct political campaigning for commercial ends. [21]

Awards

In 2006, the TPA won the ConservativeHome “One to Watch” award. In November 2007, chief executive Matthew Elliott was presented with the Conservative Way Forward ‘One of Us’ award by shadow foreign secretary William Hague.

In 2007 the TaxPayers' Alliance won the Innovation Award at the Stockholm Network's "Golden Umbrellas" think tank awards. [22]

Criticisms and controversy

Tax investigation of charitable arm

The charitable arm of the Taxpayers' Alliance - the Politics and Economics Research Trust - is under investigation by regulators following allegations that the group may have used the trust to gain tax relief for donations intended to fund political research.[23]

Revelations by The Guardian newspaper in 2009 resulted in the UK's Charity Commission opening a regulatory compliance case into the Trust.[23] It was reported in December of the same year that the alliance requested certain of its donors - identified as "private businessman" located in the British midlands[23] - to channel funds through the trust for research into policies which might potentially damage their commercial interests[23]. This move allegedly allowed the Alliance to receive tax relief on the donations[23]; tax accountants have stated that the move potentially breached charity law, as UK commission guidelines state that organisations may not be charitable if they have political purposes[24].

A spokesman for the Charity Commission was quoted as saying that "[t]he scope of the investigation is to address the allegations relating to the charity's relationship with the Taxpayers' Alliance"; such cases are opened when "available information indicates misconduct or mismanagement has occurred" or otherwise when actions "may have been improper".[23]

John Prescott, former UK Deputy Prime Minister, stated that the Charity Commission's announcement of an investigation showed the Taxpayers' Alliance was "exploiting the taxpayer rather than protecting their interests as they claim to do"[23][24]. He also wrote to Dame Suzi Leather, the Commission's chairwoman, requesting the the Alliance's charitable status be immediately suspended; he has in the past called the Alliance "a Conservative Party front".[25][23]

Public services

An investigation by Tim Horton, research director of the Fabian Society, claimed the group is "fundamental to the Conservatives' political strategy", which he said was to destroy public confidence in politicians' ability to deliver public services, thereby paving the way for cuts.[6] "There is something deeply dishonest about their campaigns on government waste," he said. "Their aim isn't to make public spending work better, but to slash it dramatically. Yet none of them will campaign on their true vision of society: fewer public services. At least Thatcher was honest about the deal: less 'public' means you go private."[6]

Bibliography

Books
  • Matthew Elliott and Lee Rotherham The Bumper Book of Government Waste, 2006, Harriman House
  • Matthew Elliott and Lee Rotherham The Bumper Book of Government Waste 2008: Brown’s Squandered Billions, 2007, Harriman House
  • David Craig and Matthew Elliott The Great European Rip-Off: How the Corrupt, Wasteful EU is Taking Control of Our Lives, 2009, Random House
Pamphlets
  • James Barr and Matthew Elliott "Moving on up: EU tax harmonisation plans", October 1998European Foundation
  • Matthew Elliott, Matthew Sinclair & Corin Taylor "How cutting corporation tax would boost revenue", September 2008

References

  1. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/about/mission.php
  2. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/dec/20/taxpayers-alliance-tories-charitable-donations
  3. ^ Profile of Matthew Elliott
  4. ^ Mr Elliot made it clear that he does in fact pay taxes under the French regime and has done throughout his residence in France."Taxpayers' Alliance admits director doesn't pay British tax". The Guardian. 2009-10-09. Retrieved 2009-10-10.
  5. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/about/business_supporters.php
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Booth, Robert (9 October 2009). "Who is behind the Taxpayers' Alliance?". The Guardian. Retrieved 2009-10-10. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/aug/26/labour.tax
  8. ^ http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/columnists/maguire/2008/03/19/points-of-disorder-115875-20355809/
  9. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7241315.stm
  10. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/about/2007/08/florence-heath.html
  11. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/about/2007/08/matthew-elliott.html
  12. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/about/2007/08/andrew-allum-fo.html
  13. ^ "Tax Payers Alliance challenged". Retrieved 2009-10-10. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/waste/2007/10/the-bumper-book.html
  15. ^ a b http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/home/files/council_spending_uncovered_3_pension_contributions.pdf
  16. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/home/files/council_spending_uncovered_1_publicity.pdf
  17. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/home/files/council_spending_uncovered_2_middle_management_pay.pdf
  18. ^ http://www.local.communities.gov.uk/finance/stats/pensions067.pdf
  19. ^ http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/whatsmycartax/
  20. ^ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=512742&in_page_id=1770
  21. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3428007.ece
  22. ^ http://www.stockholm-network.org/downloads/press/GUWinners.pdf
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h Booth, Robert (29th December 2009). "Charity arm of Taxpayers' Alliance under tax investigation". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 12th January 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  24. ^ a b "Tory tax allies 'subsidised' by the taxpayer". Talk Talk. 21st December 2009. Retrieved 12 January 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ Booth, Robert (11th October 2009). "John Prescott says tax lobby group is Tory front". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 12th January 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
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