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TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 11th February 2011 Individual tax codes longer than War and Peace Today we launched a new report as part of our 2020 Tax Commission project. The study looks at just how long Tolley's tax guides have become. We found that the lengths of books giving guidance on Corporation Tax, Income Tax, Capital Gains Tax and Inheritance Tax had all increased significantly over the last decade, with the guide for Corporation Tax now taking the world's fastest speaker a whopping 20 hours to read aloud. The Income Tax guide is 54 per cent longer than it was in 1999-2000 and would take him 19 hours to get through. Three of the individual guides are much longer than the classic War and Peace (pictured) – and all of this means the UK's tax system is far too complicated. That places a huge burden on families and businesses across the UK and it means costly administrative errors are made. Click here to read our research. High Speed Rail report sparks much needed debate After last week's report exposing the flawed business case for High Speed Rail, which we described as a 'White Elephant,' we have had several responses. You can read reactions from and replies to: the Department for Transport, Association of Train Operating Companies and Greengauge21 (a taxpayer funded group set up specifically to persuade the public to buy into this project). Chris Stokes, the author of the report and experienced rail analyst, and Bruce Weston of HS2 Action Alliance issued robust rebuttals of these initial responses on the day the report was released. Those who are campaigning for High Speed Rail to go ahead still had more to say and you can read the subsequent discussion and replies here. It was good to see that our report really got the debate over the business case for High Speed Rail going. TPA Campaign Manager, Charlotte Linacre, is pictured talking about the 'Huge Spending Risk'. Taxpayers could be lumbered with this £17billion 'White Elephant' which will never be financially viable and is a railway for the rich. A series of exaggerated and improbable assumptions are needed to make the sums add up and are key to the Government's business case. Our report obviously ruffled some feathers, because the Minister for Transport was straight out to defend the plans, which is unusual on a Friday afternoon! Theresa Villiers, one of the Ministers responsible for the project, spoke about it on BBC London. When challenged with our argument that the scheme is never expected to produce a financial return and will cost taxpayers a fortune she gave a weak response. Villiers claims that there were wider economic benefits but these were already exposed as weak in our research. It's important that we continue to make the case to cancel this project, especially when it is based on such shaky justifications. Manchester council playing politics with cuts Manchester council this week responded to the need to cut spending by saying that frontline services would be devastated and that they could not find any more efficiencies. We told the Scottish Daily Express that they are not working hard enough to find fair savings which they need to. There's no sign of Manchester council top brass budging from their £200,000+ salaries and they have recently undertaken several expensive projects. Yet they are making savings by cutting specific frontline services while encouraging people to resist the changes. The council have complained that they have no other option and are using this as an excuse to increase their income through charges. Manchester council (pictured) plans to raise all types of charges including parking on Sundays, the costs of bins and even burial fees. At the TPA we strongly oppose these sneaky charges which are entirely unfair and are effectively stealth taxes. Local Government Minister Grant Shapps accused Manchester Council of, "intentionally cutting frontline services and playing politics with people's lives". They're not the first council to pass the buck – a few weeks ago we saw Lambeth council put up posters saying "The Government has cut our money, so we are forced to cut services". This just isn't good enough, especially when neighbouring and similar sized councils are showing it is certainly possible to make big savings while still continuing to provide quality services. Council tax has nearly doubled over the last decade and grants from central government have shot up, councils can and should start making genuine savings. Eric Pickles has today stepped up his battle with town halls over spending cuts and politicised adverts, John O'Connell explains the need to crakdown on council newspapers and lobbyists. MPs' expenses, a day of justice Former Labour MP Jim Devine was this week found guilty of making false expenses claims. After the scandal that first enveloped Westminster in 2009, the TaxPayers' Alliance took a leading role in calling for those involved to be brought to justice. As well as being active critics of the behaviour and attitude revealed in the MPs' expenses scandal, the TPA led the campaign to reform the system so that such abuses of trust could not happen again. Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said of Jim Devine's conviction: "Taxpayers will be relieved that in another expenses case justice has been done. After dismissing the arrogant assertion that they were above the law, the courts have again rejected MPs' pathetic excuses for false claims. There now needs to be a strong sentence for Jim Devine, who didn't plead guilty and has been convicted on multiple counts, to reflect the seriousness of lying to exploit access to taxpayers' money and establish a proper deterrent." Justice was also being meted out to another disgraced former MP in a London courtroom this week. Former Barnsley Central MP Eric Illsley was yesterday sentenced to 12 months in jail for fiddling his expenses. Read more about both MPs cases on our blog. This week we also submitted our response to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority consultation on the MPs' expenses scheme. IPSA have come under increasing pressure from MPs, who want to relax the rules, and have agreed to hear opinions on the expenses system. The submission was a detailed document with lots of questions, and we offered honest and robust answers to them. The new system is obviously a vast improvement on what existed before but it is not perfect. Transparency is crucial, and MPs can't expect a system that is more generous than what millions of taxpayers are offered in their own jobs. TPA says No to an EU tax TPA Campaign Director Emma Boon was invited to Brussels this week to join an MEP and taxpayer groups from across Europe to attack an attempt to establish an EU-wide system of taxation. During a public hearing at the European Parliament Emma joined a panel to launch a new European Citizens Initiative (ECI) against EU Taxation. ECIs allow citizens to stop the European commission proposing a new law if a minimum of one million European citizens from at least seven EU countries sign an initiative. The "No EU tax" initiative will begin collecting signatures later this year. Emma (pictured) told the Belgian public news service why the TPA was against a planned EU tax. Tell the EU you don't want our money funding environmentalists You might remember our report at the end of last year into the amount of taxpayers' money that's given to environmentalists so they can lobby the government for more money, policy changes and higher taxes. The European Union is one of the most generous donors to these organisations, on your behalf, with your money. Many of these groups end up costing the taxpayer double: once when your taxes are donated to them, then again when taxes rocket on things like fuel duty. The EU is having a consultation on the amount of funding they give to environmental lobbying groups. Click here and we'll show you how to have your say. New Grassroots activists Readers of the Grassroots' blog will have noticed two new authors in the last two weeks.Jago Pearson has started a Leicestershire branch, and Colin Cameron is helping form a North East branch. I'm sure you will have enjoyed reading stories from their local areas, and it also helps give us a national picture. We really want you to tell us what's going on where you live. If you would like to write an article for us we would love to hear from you. For more information, please contact our National Grassroots Coordinator, Andrew Allison. Best of the Blogs Grassroots: Non-job of the week - £2000-a-day Sir John Banham beaten to the title by Colwyn Council's European Project Support Officer European Union: The ECHR and votes for prisoners - EU expert Dr Lee Rotherham says "with great power comes great responsibility" about the MPs' debate on prisoners' right to vote Campaign: Taxman in turmoil - Emma Boon says there has been a catalogue of errors at HMRC and real reform is needed Grassroots: Northumbria Police spend £50K on artwork - TPA supporter Colin Cameron onunusual spending priorities at Northumbria Police Campaign: But who’s policing criminally bad spending? - Charlotte Linacre talks about laughable advice and silly season spending 2020 Tax Commission: Unpredictable taxes will damage confidence - Rory Meakin on the folly of arbitrary taxes Grassroots: Newcastle City Council gets into property speculation - TPA supporter Colin Cameron on Newcastle City Council's new business venture 2020 Tax Commission: Simpler, lower taxes not fiddly, complicated NIC schemes - Rory Meakin on Osborne's misguided attempts to encourage growth Grassroots: False savings - Tim Newark isn't convinced by Bath Council's efficiency claims 2020 Tax Commission: There is room for tax cuts - John O'Connell takes issue with David Cameron's suggestion that tax cuts are not possible