THE TAXPAYERS ALLIANCE





I pay tax. When I was employed full time I paid a considerable amount in tax. Even if you do not pay income tax you are liable to pay VAT on certain goods. To a greater or lesser extent we are all taxpayers. So what could make more sense than a group of concerned citizens banding together to keep watch, applying pressure to ensure that our taxes are not frittered away. Seeking to ensure for example that cash set aside for the health service goes on patient care not self serving bureaucracies or that our elected representatives do not indulge in extravagant living at our expense. You might think that The Taxpayers Alliance is just such a group. You would be wrong.

The TPA has now become the default mouthpiece used by the BBC whenever issues of tax and spending are under discussion. However it is not all as it seems.

‘The same group that speaks out against government waste on Newsnight and in the pages of newspapers also runs a campaign against radicalising schoolbooks published by the Palestinian Authority and has formed an alliance with a Slovakian rightwing group’[1]

The TPA's proposals have included scrapping the secondary school building programme, child benefit and Sure Start centres for the youngest children. Its spokespeople, all with the air of outraged taxpayers come on programmes like Newsnight to propound a right wing ideology that has at its heart a a desire to see draconian reduction in the provision of services provided by the state such as libraries and community centres.
However as the Guardian points out;

‘The range of its work reflects how influential the group has become in a relatively short space of time, but also raises questions over how it manages to pay for what has become a £1m a year operation. The alliance refuses to publish details of its income or its benefactors.[2]


I think one might reasonably conclude that this lack of transparency from the TPA somewhat undermines their credibility as a campaign group calling for greater tax transparency. Some conclusions, however, can be drawn from what is known about their funding sources.[3] Firstly this is not a group of concerned taxpayers merely lobbying for value for money, nor is it free from party affiliations, being strongly linked as it is with the right wing of the Tory party, but is funded by and represents very wealthy people. In short it is a front to promote the extremely selfish interests of a small coterie, as well as what might reasonably be called the interests of multi-national corporate capitalism.[4]
Along with the right wing ideologues of the Institute of Economic Affairs[5] the TPA is now rarely off our screens or airwaves peddling their particular brand of right wing snake oil, with varying degrees of subtlety. Given my commitment to free speech I would fight for their right to have air time, (though this should surely be more proportionate). However if the BBC is to spend taxpayers money in providing them with air time and hospitality it surely incumbent upon the BBC to clarify precisely who it is they are talking too and whose interests they are representing.



[3] http://www.spinwatch.org/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/48-lobbying/5503-a-closer-look-at-the-taxpayers-alliance-
[4] One source of its UK financial support is McAlpine, he of the Crossrail Blacklist fame. See my December post on this issue.
[5] For information on the background and funding of the IEA see http://thinktank-watch.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/sir-anthony-fisher.html



Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.

Popular posts from this blog

NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

Image
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries
Read more

INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

Image
Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t
Read more

LONDON BELONGS TO ME PART ONE

Image
. I. I have lived in London now just over thirty years, having moved here on 4 th July 1983 . I don’t know how long you normally have to wait to claim squatter’s rights but thirty years seems a good enough period to me. The glory of London is its parks and open spaces, you are rarely ever far away from a London park, common or heath. I am within fifteen minutes walk of Kensington Gardens or Holland Park , much closer to several smaller areas with grass and flowers and benches on which to sit, all maintained by Kensington and Chelsea council who also still believe in the value of trees. Those who would see what they call ‘the state’ shrink rarely mention such items in their calculations. What does it cost to maintain a tree? Too much by far for the likes of those right wing think tanks whom and I fear the phrase is soon likely to break under the strain under which it is now being placed, know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Holland Park is one of t
Read more