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TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - Friday 4th February 2011 High Speed Rail Today the TPA released research on the new proposed High Speed Rail line. The report, written by respected rail expert Chris Stokes, exposed the flaws in the business case for High Speed Rail, the Government's most expensive new project that could eventually cost £30 billion. Proposals for the first leg of the new high speed line to the West Midlands (HS2) will cost £17 billion. The Government looks set to steam ahead with this plan despite this being a potential multi-billion pound white elephant when we can least afford it. The TaxPayers' Alliance today called High Speed Rail a Huge Spending Risk. Click here to read the report. Matthew Sinclair, Director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: "It is incredible that while the Government are imposing higher taxes on ordinary families, and making necessary cuts in spending on services like education, they are planning on throwing billions at a new train line that will only benefit a well-off few. Passengers on the new high speed line are never expected to pay enough to cover the project's costs in fares, and it will depend on massive subsidy at the expense of millions who never use the line. This just can't be a priority with the massive scale of the fiscal crisis and huge pressure on family budgets. Politicians should focus on making commuter journeys more convenient and affordable, not a flashy new train set that will be a huge white elephant." Chris Stokes, author of the report, said: "The business case for HS2 hasn't been made and relies on a number of assumptions that are optimistic, in some cases to an incredible degree. We just can't assume every passenger does nothing of any value with their time on the train, for example. And the Department for Transport have promised before that they wouldn't justify major new capital investment on the basis of overly optimistic projections for demand, but they have done exactly that in this case. The need for new capacity can be better served with longer and more frequent trains on the existing quick InterCity service, which wouldn't need anything like the same subsidy. HS2 should be cancelled." We discussed the flaws in the case for High Speed Rail on: BBC Radio London LBC Radio BBC WM 107.7 The Wolf BBC Radio Northampton BBC Radio Coventry BBC Radio Three Counties BBC Radio Somerset BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Midlands Today Sky Radio (syndicated across a variety of commercial radio station nationwide) The Press Association: Report says scrap £17bn rail link Railnews.co.uk: High Speed 2 is a '£17bn white elephant' Independent: Report calls for £17bn rail link to be scrapped Pressure on Osborne to make tax cuts Director of the TPA, Matthew Sinclair appeared this week on The Daily Politics show to talk about the need for tax reform, the opportunities to cut taxes and lower the burden on taxpayers. Click here to listen to the TPA suggestions on how to cut tax. He is pictured below, on the screen on the left, also appearing were Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith, Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and BBC journalist Nick Robinson. To watch the whole show follow this link. This week John Redwood and Douglas Carswell spoke on BBC Radio 4, calling for tax cuts. This follows Boris Johnson saying that lower taxes are needed. The government are finding ways to save money by curbing spending and now they have to ease the burden on taxpayers. Read more on Emma Boon's thoughts on cutting tax here. Hold your council to account The deadline for local authorities publishing their spending over £500 passed on Monday, and as Policy Analyst Chris Daniel wrote, over 50 had not met the deadline. Some slowcoaches did catch up this week, though. It's great that taxpayers finally have this level of access to council spending and it's the kind of thing we've campaigned for vigorously over the years. Local authorities had eight months to comply and some published much more quickly, so there was a sufficient time for Town Halls to respond. Chris Daniels (pictured right) and others in our team will be following up on the revelations. As Grassroots Coordinator Andrew Allison showed earlier this week. We firmly believe that all councils should have done this by now. You can check if your council has published their spending here. If they have not yet done so then let us know and write to your Councillor hereand ask them why. Transparency is vital and all councils must get on board as soon as possible. It is brilliant news that this new transparency is now in place. Of course you should know where your council tax is going, after all it's your money. You should be able to decide if they are wasting your money or spending it wisely. As always we want to hear from our supporters. If you notice something that you're not happy with and think need highlighting please email info@taxpayersalliance.com HMRC bungles The Public Accounts Committee – Parliament’s public spending watchdog – released a scathing report on the failings and mismanagement at Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) this week. The implementation of a new computer system has delayed the processing of tax returns from 2008-09, causing “unacceptable uncertainty and inconvenience to the taxpayer” according to the report. HMRC has also failed to tackle a backlog of 18 million PAYE cases from 2007-08 and earlier, affecting an estimated 15 million taxpayers. The PAC estimate that £1.4 billion of tax was underpaid and there is £3.0 billion of overpaid tax to be refunded. HMRC also knew about the mistakes long before they decided to tell taxpayers about them. There will be new pressure on taxpayers that have received letters telling them that they owe yet more tax, after making decisions with their household budgets that were based on their monthly pay cheques. It’s not acceptable. And as John O’Connell pointed out this week, much of this owes to the complexity of the UK’s tax system. If it was drastically simplified then there would be fewer mistakes and less pressure on taxpayers. Former MP Jim Devine goes on trial Former MP Jim Devine is on trial, accused of fiddling his parliamentary expenses. The former Labour MP for Livingston is accused of falsely claiming costs for parliamentary duties in March 2009 and having his case heard at Southwark Crown Court. It's alleged that he dishonestly claimed £3,240 for cleaning services using false invoices between July 2008 and April 2009. The TaxPayers’ Alliance campaigned vigorously for reform of MPs’ expenses and we are taking a keen interest in this trial. Keep an eye on our website where we will bring you the result at the conclusion of this trial. Grassroots After the successful grassroots training last week, many supporters have come forward offering help in different parts of the country. Anyone living in the North East of England who would like to join some existing supporters in forming a new North East branch, please get in touch with National Grassroots Coordinator, Andrew Allison. A supporter is also interested in setting up a branch in North Wales. Again, if anyone would like to join him in rooting out waste there, please contact Andrew. TPA win 'Atlas Award' The TaxPayers' Alliance have won an award given to 'Go-To think tanks.' The TPA got the number 12 spot in the world for 'promoting transparency and good governance'. This follows our success in the Templeton Freedom Awards (pictured) last year, where we won the Initiative in Public Relations category. The Atlas Economic Research Foundation connects free-market organisations to the resources needed to advance the cause of liberty. Click to download the full research on the top think tanks. Best of the Blogs Burning our money: Non-Job of the week - Andrew Allison with another non-job of the week - it's yet another Media & Communications Officer, yours for a mere £72,000 a year Grassroots: Northern Ireland extravagance - Lee Canning is concerned at the lack of restraint shown by some members of Northern Ireland's Legislative Assembly Campaign: Looking at council properties to make savings - ‎"It is clear that councils can and should save taxpayers' money by selling off buildings that they do not need" Burning our money: Cost of exercise equipment in Prisons revealed - Chris Daniel on the cost of prison gym equipment Grassroots: Innovation to cut costs should be welcomed - Leicestershire TPA supporter Jago Pearson welcomes measures that could save Leicestershire taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds 2020 Tax Commission: Simpler taxes for easier public understanding -The incredible complexity of Britain’s tax system doesn’t make life simple Economics 101: Reducing spending should be about growth too - John O'Connell says reducing spending is not just about cutting the deficit, it's about economic growth as well Grassroots: Sharing the pain? - TPA supporter John Martin sets out his ideas for reducing the allowances paid by Norfolk County Council to its members. Grassroots: Council non-achievements - Tim Newark isn't very impressed at Bath council's recent achievements... 2020 Tax Commission:750,000 will be dragged into higher tax bracket - John O'Connell on IFS figures - millions of taxpayers have been pulled up to the higher rate over the years by fiscal drag Campaign: Scrap the fuel tax rise - We call on George Osborne to cancel the fuel duty hike due in April Economics 101: GAAR is like another tax rise - JP Floru consider the introduction in the UK of a General Anti Avoidance Rule (GAAR)