Friday 7 November 2008

TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 7th November 2008
 
UK Pensions crisis: Tax grab has cost pensioners £225 billion
 
With millions worried about the value of their pensions in the financial crisis, this week we published a detailed report investigating the harm done to private pensions by Government tax grabs, the falling value of the basic state pension and the massive benefits enjoyed by thousands of public sector workers. The pension divide between the public and private sectors is growing, as private sector workers lose out and record numbers of their public sector peers now receive pension benefits worth millions of pounds.
 
The report reveals that the pension tax grabs of the 1990s have cost pensioners £225 billion, whilst over 17,000 retired civil servants enjoy pension benefits worth over a million pounds. The pension divide between private and public sector is shockingly wide.
 
The serious problems suffered in the UK pensions system are found to be due to political meddling and managerial incompetence on the part of inexperienced politicians. The report recommends urgent reform, including reducing the unsustainable public sector pension scheme to a more manageable level. Read the full report here. 
 
The report made a great impact in the media, including the front page of the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail:
Daily Telegraph, Thousands of public sector workers retire with £1 million pension pots
Daily Mail, Brown's £17,000 tax raid on EVERY private pension... as value of gold-plated public sector schemes soars to £1trillion
ConservativeHome, Terry Arthur: The failure of the British pensions system
The Sunday Times, Public sector pensions will cost £1 trillion
Independent, Pension fund tax grab has cost savers £225bn
The Sun, Tax grab blow for pension
The Mirror, £225bn lost to pensions in tax grab
Daily Express, Brown's £175bn tax grab widens pensions gulf
Scotsman Letters, Look again at pensions
Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Pension pain
Liverpool Daily Post, Pensions lose out to £225bn tax grabs
Politics.co.uk, Govt 'took £225 billion from pensioners'
Global Pensions, 'Tax grabs' wipe £225bn off private pensions
London Stock Exchange, Government reforms 'caused loss of value in pension funds'
Tax-News.com, Report Slams UK Government's Pension 'Tax Grab'
Ifaonline.co.uk, Pensions need 20% boost 'to counter Govt raids'
Director of Finance Online, The true cost of the pension raid
IPE.com, Personal accounts could lead to 'massive' legal action

The Radio 4 Today Programme featured the report twice, including an interview with TPA Campaign Director Mark Wallace which you can listen to here. The other discussion featuring the report was particularly fascinating, between John Humphries and Sarah Montague, the Today Programme Presenters. They were reviewing the day's newspapers front pages when this encouraging exchange occurred:

John Humphries: There's a financial story leading the Daily Mail - pensions. It calculates on the basis of a report from the TaxPayers' Alliance that Gordon Brown's tax raid, as it puts it, on pension funds from all those years ago has snatched £17,000 from every worker's retirement pot. £17,000 from each of us - well, from those with retirement pots to have snatched, that is. Of course it's different if you're in the public sector, you're very well off if you're in the public sector in terms of pension.
Sarah Montague: Indeed. With everybody else paying for it.
JH: Did you really just say that?
SM: Of course I didn't.
JH: Sounds a bit political to me.
SM: I was just making a statement of fact! 
 
North East Campaign Day

The TPA is holding an action day this Saturday, 8th November at Tynemouth Market, North Tyneside. We will be running a petition for lower council tax, and aiming to sign up hundreds of new supporters to the low tax cause, so if you live in the area it would be great if you could come along to help out. The TPA's Campaign Director, Mark Wallace, who hails from Tyneside, will be organising the event and it would be great if you could spare an hour or two to come along and help us recruit people. 

We will be meeting at Tynemouth Market, which is held at Tynemouth Metro Station, at 9.30am on Saturday (map here). Don't worry, you don't necessarily have to start that early - if you'd like to come along later in the day we will be there until mid-afternoon and you're welcome to join us at any time.

If you would like to come along, or if you have any questions, please give Mark a call on 07736 009 548 or send an email to mark.wallace@taxpayersalliance.com If you have any difficulty finding us on the day, please call Mark's mobile.
 
Call to reject officer pay increases

 

East Riding council in Yorkshire wants to pay their senior officers up to £12,000 more a year. Already cleared by a committee on staff pay, the full council has yet to vote through this measure. But, as the recession bites in and people risk losing their jobs in the private sector, doesn't it send a terrible message to use taxpayers' money to hike senior officer pay? Remember, these officers already earn six figure salaries as it is. Given this clear injustice, we’ve listed the councillor contact details so you can help us and Yorkshire’s taxpayers by writing to them urging them to reject the officer pay increase. You can find their contact details here. 

A busy week for the grassroots campaign

 

Following on from last Friday's efforts in St Albans, the grassroots movement is going from strength to strength.   West Midlands TPA agent Fiona McEvoy has been in Manchester campaigning against congestion charging ahead of the referendum on 11th December (see right). Our Grassroots Coordinator, Tim Aker, was at the University of East Anglia talking to students about the TPA, and is speaking at the University of Nottingham this evening.
 

Excellent article on the non-job of the week

 

TPA activist James Barlow has written a superb blog on our non-job of the week. Like all our blogs, research and campaigns, it is vital our supporters follow them up with blogs and letters to your paper informing people of the waste in government. Do have a read of James’s blog here and have a chuckle at the bureaucratic jungle that is Bristol City Council.
 
Best of the Blogs
 
Non-job of the week: Bristol Council, Food Policy Officer  
 

Posted by Britannia Radio at 18:40