TPA to host international conference
The European Resource Bank conference comes at an important time, as advocates of lower government spending and lower taxation start to coordinate their activities more closely at an international level. With over 200 delegates from more than 20 countries, our theme will be 'Threats to Freedom and the Road to Prosperity' and sessions will run from Wednesday 8th to Friday 10th September at the Millbank Media Centre in the heart of London's Westminster.
Some of our international delegates will include the Bavarian Taxpayers Association, Bejing International Taxation Research Society, Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Estonian Taxpayers Association, Flemish Dutch Tax Association, German Taxpayers Association, Isfahan University, Korea Taxpayers Association, Lithuanian Free Market Institute, Swedish Taxpayers Association and the Taxpayers association of Tanzania.
Problems with skills funding
As our chairman points out, there's no benefit for taxpayers' here. It's just an opportunity for a publically funded body like Acua to hijack the successful professional programs run by private enterprise in order to claim that they've 'helped' with employee development. Giving companies money to do what they're already willing and able to do with their own capital is profligacy at its worst. Read Andrew's blog here.
'Inherent waste' in EU rules
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, has told the Commons Education Committee that the EU’s overly complex, bureaucratic planning processes were so demanding that the Building Schools for the Future project was always likely to haemorrhage money as those at the helm strained to satisfy the exacting procurement standards, saying:
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Friday 3 September 2010
TPA Bulletin - 3rd September 2010
The TaxPayers' Alliance will be kicking off the autumn conference season next week by hosting London's first ever meeting of taxpayer groups and 'Tea Party' groups from across the world. What's more, we're delighted that the leaders of some of the world's most influential think tanks and campaigns will also be joining us for this event.
The conference will be addressed by prominent taxpayer leaders and free market thinkers, including:
Michael Jager, Secretary General of the Taxpayers Association of Europe;
Siv Jensen, leader of the Norwegian Progress Party, the second largest party in Norway;
Dr 'Art' Laffer, the American economist behind the much-discussed 'Laffer Curve', and close advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher;
Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform and leading taxpayer leader in the US.
For further information and a full program of events please visit the website: http://www.europeanresourcebank.com/. You will be able to follow the conference online as we post talks and lectures on the internet!
Our chairman, Andrew Allum, blogged on the TPA website this week after having stumbled across a shocking misuse of taxpayers' money. He was approached at his day job by an outfit called Acua, a subsidiary of Coventry University, who offered his company public funding for courses they already run. Obviously, Andrew declined but was nevertheless perturbed – particularly in the current climate – to learn that private firms were being offered government cash just to do what they would have done anyway.
"There is inherent waste in that process because you have two designs if you have two sample schemes, as we do, which have been fully worked out and are then put in the bin. That cannot be sensible from a man-in-the-street view". Here at the TPA we’re often contacted by business people who complain of being exhausted and out-of-pocket after fulfilling every wish and whim of EU regulation, and now here’s evidence that even our own government bureaucrats – usually masters of confusion themselves – have been left frustrated and lamenting the abandonment of common sense, and none more so than Mr. Byles. But then of course, Mr. Byles is head of the organisation responsible for compiling ‘that list’, much to the embarrassment of Michael Gove...
Whoever should shoulder the majority of the blame, we can clearly see that when the overly controlling meets the easily confused, we should brace ourselves for a big financial blow. Surely it's about time this issue is addressed before these heavy-handed procurement rules cost us all more money we can’t afford?
Burning Our Money: Non-job of the week
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