Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance

Ross McLauchlan Catherine MacDonald Angela Devine Katie Blair

Introduction

• Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance: Policy Exchange
• Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance: Stockholm Network
• Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance: Funding
• Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance: People
• Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance: Democracy and Think Tanks
• Globalisation:Taxpayers' Alliance: Impact of the Taxpayers' Alliance

The History and Ideology of the Taxpayers' Alliance

The TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) is a British pressure group who formed to tackle the lack of an adequate taxpayers’ organisation in the UK. Founded in 2004 by Andrew Allum, Matthew Elliott and Florence Heath, the Taypayers’ Alliance is Britain's independent, non-partisan campaign for low a tax society and better services. Starting out as a volunteer operation, the TPA first came to the attention of the national media with the publication of the first “Bumper Book of Government Waste”. The reception of this research, alongside the strong support led to a rapid and sustained expansion. With a full-time team of staff working out of its office in the heart of Westminster, the TPA has firmly established itself as the country's leading voice on transparency and accountability in government; with registered supporters increasing from 5,000 in its first year to a current figure of almost 60,000 supporters. The TPA has also been at the forefront of campaigns against MPs' expenses abuses, the need for public spending transparency, the growth of the quango state, the costs and wastefulness of the EU, and excessive executive public sector pay, among others.

The TaxPayers' Alliance is Britain's independent grassroots campaign for lower taxes. After years of being ignored by politicians of all parties, the TPA is committed to forcing politicians to listen to ordinary taxpayers. The mission of the TPA is "to reverse the perception that big government is necessary and irreversible; to explain the benefits of a low tax economy; to give taxpayers a voice in the corridors of power; to oppose EU tax harmonisation. To this end, the TaxPayers' Alliance intends to: oppose all tax rises; oppose EU tax harmonisation; criticise all examples of wasteful and unnecessary spending; and champion opportunities for votes on tax and spending.

Juxtaposed with their campaign against the misuse of public funds, the Taxpayers' Alliance has set up a charity under a different name which can secure subsidies from the taxman worth up to 40% on individuals' donations. Their charitable arm received donations worth £373,230 in 2008 and approved 29 grant proposals amounting to £278,520 with the stated aim "to advance the education of the public" and to "promote for the public benefit research into matters of public taxation, public policy, applied economics and political science". Unusually for a charitable trust, the accounts do not name the grant recipients. The former deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, stated: "The Taxpayers' Alliance appears to be exploiting the taxpayer rather than protecting their interests as they claim to do; they have now become properly the non-taxpayers' alliance".

Subsequently TPA has recently come under scrutiny from the Charity Commission following these claims that the TPA was using a charitable branch of its organisation, the Politics and Economics Research trust, to fund politically motivated research. When confronted about these allegations, Elliott declined to comment. "I will talk about the work of the Taxpayers' Alliance, I will talk about Christmas, but I don't want to talk about this," he said. "We are confident that our funding arrangements fall within the law and the guidance of the Charity Commission".

The Charity Commission's guidelines on campaigning and political activity state that "an organisation will not be charitable if its purposes are political". It states that trustees must not allow the charity to be used as a vehicle for the expression of the political views of any individual trustee or staff member. Moreover, Despite the alleged non-partisan nature of the TPA, it has been accused of being a Conservative Party "front”; with all three founders and a number of TPA staff members being affiliated with the Conservative Party and have strong links with the Freedom Association. Alliance backers, such as Anthony Bamford, a director of Staffordshire-based JC Bamford, have also donated large sums of money to the Conservative Party. However, the group's leadership has denied such an affiliation with the Conservative party..

The critics of the TPA ask how close it is to the Tory party hierarchy which seems to have adopted some of its radical ideas. "The idea of tearing down the walls of big government as Cameron did in his speech on Thursday is something we have been talking about for years," said its chief executive, Matthew Elliott, yesterday. Furthermore, George Osborne's public sector pay freeze was recommended by the TPA last month and Elliott, who describes himself as "a free-market libertarian", said he had been "banging on about" the idea that no public worker should earn more than the prime minister without the chancellor's approval long before Osborne announced it.

A Guardian investigation has found that a large part of its funds come from wealthy donors, many of whom are prominent supporters of the Conservative party. Sixty per cent of donations come from individuals or groups giving more than £5,000. The Midlands Industrial Council, which has donated £1.5m to the Conservatives since 2003, said it has given around £80,000 on behalf of 32 owners of private companies. Tony Gallagher, owner of Gallagher UK, a property company that gave the Conservatives £250,000 in 2007, is a member of the MIC, as is Christopher Kelly who owns the international haulage firm Keltruck, and Robert Edmiston who owns IM Group, a large car importer. Other businessmen named by the TPA as supporters include spread betting tycoon Stuart Wheeler who gave £5m to the Conservatives before he endorsed the UK Independance party.

Furthermore, Florence Heath, co-founder, "led the student Conservative association at Imperial College for two years as well as the Europe-wide European Young Conservatives, and served on the committee of the local Conservative associations, Conservative friends of Gibraltar." Matthew Sinclair, research director, writes something that was nominated for "the Conservative Home Best Young Conservative Blogger award"." Maria Fort, policy analyst, has "a passion for Conservative politics".

The Other Tax Payers Alliance

The Other Tax Payers Alliance are a left-wing group who oppose the ideas of the Tax Payers Alliance. They state that what Britain needs is fairer, more proportionate taxes rather than lower ones. For example they support higher taxes for the most highly paid and the closing down of tax havens. The other tax payers alliance does not receive funding and is run by volunteers. They do not suggest that they are a representation of the views of all tax payers. The Other Tax Payers Alliance claim that the TPA is a right leaning group who do not represent the majority of tax payers. Although they claim to represent ordinary tax payers they also state that they have 20,000 supporters. This makes up only 0.04% of the adults living in Britain.

Campaign and Issues

"The TPA's mission is:

• To reverse the perception that big government is necessary and irreversible • To explain the benefits of a low tax economy • To give taxpayers a voice in the corridors of power"

and they will do this by;

• Oppose all tax rises • Oppose EU tax harmonisation • Criticise all examples of wasteful and unnecessary spending • Champion opportunities for votes on tax and spending

Research

The TPA carries out research into public spending, taxation and broader economic policy. The alliance claims to be a primary source which is used by ordinary people as well as media workers and academics. For example, the TPA may research issues such as MP's Expenses abuses and the cost of wastefullness of the E.U. It claims to be an non-partisan in it's campaigns and research.

Media

In recent years the TPA has became one of the most frequently quoted pressure groups in the UK media. The alliance has approximately ten hits per day in the print media. This includes articles covering MP's expenses, the cost of crime and local government salaries. However, it has been stated by The Independent that the TPA seems to be taking on much of the work load which would be expected to be carried out by journalists. The Independent suggest that the TPA have created their own media profile by writing articles and including their own headlines for newspapers to print. The TPA claims that the reason for this is that journalists have too much work to do and don't have time to read reports from pressure groups.

The Independant goes on to discuss the view of Paul Lashmar of University College of Falmouth who sees a clear connection between the TPA's influence and the every day pressures of news organisations. He claims that news groups no longer have enough time to carry out the necessary extensive research for the articles they write. They need groups like the TPA to take on tasks such as calling round MP's to ask for their individual opinions on an issue.

The TPA construct their stories in a way that will encourage the public to take an interest in the issues they discuss and furthermore encourage the public to be in favour of the TPA. For example, by ranking local councils by which wastes most money the TPA are focussing on creating an interest among a particular group.