After all the gossip and speculation, George Osborne took to the Despatch Box on Wednesday to announce the Budget. We released our briefing document on the announcements the following morning. There was some good news for those hoping for a bit of relief on the cost of driving to work or picking up the kids from school – the planned Fuel Duty hike was scrapped and the rate cut by 1p instead. This is only fair given how wildly overtaxed motorists are. The increase in the personal allowance is great, adding an extra £1,000 tax free this year and £600 next year taking it up to £8,105, and it hasn't been matched by sucking more people into higher marginal rates for once. The morning after the Budget, we held a briefing for policymakers and the media with the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). We had Sajid Javid MP on the panel, along with TPA Director Matthew Sinclair and Research Fellow Mike Denham. Philip Booth from the IEA completed the panel and the event was chaired by the IEA's Director Mark Littlewood. TPA staff worked into Wednesday night to produce a briefing document to accompany the event, providing detailed analysis on key points of the Budget, like the burden on families and the dangers of debt interest. You can read this here. You can also view videos of the speakers presenting their analysis. Click here for the full set of videos. As you might remember, we were very actively involved in the debate over a new way of handling MPs' expenses after the scandal that engulfed the system. We recently offered our feedback on how the new system (overseen by IPSA) was going as part of a review. The watchdog also asked MPs for their thoughts and it was by looking at all the responses that they decided to water down the rules, which they expect will lead to the bill increasing by millions of pounds. Some MPs have complained that the system is too restrictive and bureaucratic and IPSA is rumoured to be considering giving MPs freer reign over budgets, then checking how they use money retrospectively. This would be a terrible step backwards towards the old system and we will vigorously repel any moves in this direction as it flies in the face of attempts to make expenses fairer, more accountable and transparent. A better idea is a move towards more use of payment cards which mean transactions are published much more quickly for taxpayers and the media to scrutinise. We mentioned in a recent bulletin theshocking news that disgraced former MP David Chaytor, who had been sentenced for fiddling his expenses, was planning to appeal against his 18 month jail term. However three Judges at the Royal Courts of Justice have now ruled against lawyers acting for the former MP. David Chaytor will now continue serving his sentence at Wandsworth Prison for forging expense claims and fraudulently taking £22,000 of taxpayers' money. His lawyers presented the case to appeal, arguing that the sentence was too severe but the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge said: "This sad fall from grace was entirely self-inflicted". He added that Chaytor was guilty of "serious dishonesty" and "The loss to the public purse was significant". We also submitted a response to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) consultation on transparency. As our supporters will know, transparency has been a campaign priority for the TPA for as long as we've been going. DCLG invited responses on a proposed code that they had already drawn up, and for the most part it was a good set of suggestions. We offered our thoughts on it. But they could go further. We believe public sector bodies should have to publish a list of job titles and job descriptions for every member of staff. They needn't publish remuneration details or names for junior staff, but that will allow taxpayers to come to a real judgement about how they allocate resources like staff time. To their credit, Hammersmith and Fulham Council have gone some way towards doing this with organisational charts, but job descriptions are critical and not in there. If you think your council should do this then write to your council and/or MP to let them know. Many thanks to those supporters who got in touch offering assistance to Tim Newark, our coordinator in Bath and the South West. The TPA would not be a successful as it is without the help and information given by supporters. If you can offer assistance in your local area, please get in touch with us. Last year we issued our report 'Council Pensions: The £53 Billion Black Hole'. We proved how unaffordable and unsustainable council pension schemes are, and although the benefits staff receive are set nationally, there are huge disparities between the percentage contributions each council makes. For example in Hull, the employer contribution is around 25%, but in the neighbouring East Riding, the figure is almost half. National Grassroots Coordinator, Andrew Allison, said: 'With these high levels of contributions, Hull taxpayers are paying millions of pounds more to fund pensions for former staff than taxpayers in the East Riding. This is yet another example of why public sector pensions need reforming. When you look at the information leaflet in your council tax bill, pensions are never mentioned. This is something councils are trying to hide'. Read morefrom Andrew here. Better Government: Usefulness of transparency - Chris Daniels our public spending researcher says “sunlight is the best disinfectant” Economics 101: Budget day - John O'Connell, Research Director, discusses the plans for the budget Campaign: Hammond gets all NIMBY - Philip Hammond's insistence on branding all critics of HS2 'NIMBYs' reveals his desperation, says Charlotte Linacre Better Government: Local Government Group senior salaries revealed- They may have escaped the Town Hall Rich List but the LGA can't avoid public scrutiny over pay, explains Chris Daniel 2020 Tax Commission: Britain's income taxes leaned relatively heavily on the rich before the 50p rate - Matthew Sinclair looks at what it will really take to reduce the burden on those earning low and middle incomes Grassroots: Cornish health waste - Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust to cut front line staff while investing in an expensive computer system to 'broadcast the thoughts' of their staff. Campaign: The awful results of hate education in the Palestinian Territories - Matthew Sinclair on taxpayers' money helping to support violent organisations in the Palestinian Territories Campaign: Scout groups face closure thanks to council demands - Councils massively increasing rents for voluntary organisations rather than tighten their belts? Andrew Allison Burning Our Money: Non-job of the week - The UK's most infamous non-job has been filled.
TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 25th March 2011
Budget reactions
Unfortunately the Government are paying for all this in some painful ways – and not through the bank levy, which makes little lasting difference to the tax burden on financial institutions. The biggest tax hikes are the new tax on North Sea oil production and a floor on the carbon price. The latter is a £1.4 billion tax on electricity bills, which will by 2015-16 hit the average family with a with an extra 4% on their bill and hurt the struggling manufacturing industries that the Chancellor seemed so keen to champion. Matthew Sinclair wrote apost Budget analysis after the announcement, and is pictured on BBC News, discussing the Budget along with representatives from Federation of Small Businesses and TUC. Click here to watch a video of the debate.Report on empty property rates
A new tax making the recovery harder for small businesses and forcing owners to demolish properties has been highlighted in our briefing note on Empty Property Rates. Soon nearly all businesses will have to pay full business rates on an empty commercial property just three months after it becomes vacant, and six months later for an industrial property. This comes at a time when the Government needs to do all it can to help businesses lead the recovery. Last year, empty rate relief was worth £1.2 billion to businesses, and with high vacancy rates across the UK, many landlords may simply to choose to demolish empty properties instead of paying the new rates. This would mean fewer properties for business to relocate to or expand in, making recovery more difficult. Savers who are funding their retirement with rental income from a small number of commercial properties will also be hit despite receiving no income from empty properties. The key findings were covered in the Mail on Sunday and our Research Director John O'Connell wrote about empty property rates for the ConservativeHome website. If you think your MP should be doing more to oppose this stealth tax, then let them know here.Millions more in expenses for MPs
Controversial changes to the rules on MPs' expenses have been announced by the watchdog that oversees the payments. It will means MPs getting millions more to spend on accommodation, travel, and staff. As part of the changes 31 more MPs will now be allowed to claim full accommodation costs rather than merely London "weighting". This seems unfair as many of their constituents will commute to work in London and regard it as a reasonable distance. The TPA team have taken to the airwaves and TV to talk about our dismay at these changes and debate the issue with MPs.
Disgraced MP fails in bid to appeal expenses sentence
Referring to the expenses scandal he said: "It is difficult to exaggerate the levels of public concern at the revelation of significant abuse of the expenses system by some Members of Parliament".Consultations, Committees and HR transparency
On Monday our Director Matthew Sinclair appeared before a Government panel to present our case on the abolition of the Audit Commission. We think it's a positive step, and following on from our written submission, Matthew was invited before MPs to discuss it further, pictured right. You can watch a video of his appearance.Grassroots update
A non-job follow up this week. The Future Shape manager role, that Andrew Allison originally blogged about, has hit the headlines again. The position has now been filled, but the £70,000 a year post has raised questions over whether such an expensive role can be justified and Andrew took to the airwaves to criticise the council spending money in this way. It seems totally unnecessary and the council need to change their habits rather than delegate this job out to new high salary executives. Do you think the council CEO should be finding the savings to earn his own six figure salary? Or does this man, pictured, have the dynamism to bring radical improvements to the council and deliver good value for taxpayers' money? Watch this video and you can decide.Best of the Blogs
2020 Tax Commission: National Insurance is archaic, confusing and opaque. Abolish it - Rory Meakin makes the case for the abolition of National Insurance
Friday, 25 March 2011
Posts
