Raising a glass to the TaxPayers' Alliance
Thursday, March 5, 2009 Just off to attend a champagne reception to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the TaxPayers' Alliance. I can't think of many pressure groups that have enjoyed so much publicity in recent years.
Perhaps their biggest coup was to provoke THIS attack by the Guardian's Polly Toynbee. You know you've arrived when New Labour's "fairy godmother" writes:
Day after day an insidious poison is fed into the nation's veins, spreading anger and cynicism about everything in the public sector. Nothing works, billions are wasted, public servants of every kind are pointless jobsworths feathering their nests and twiddling their thumbs. Behind this campaign is the Taxpayers' Alliance (TPA), which claims an average of 13 hits a day in the national media.
Tonight's event also features the launch of The Great European Rip-Off, a new book by David Craig and Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TPA (available on Amazon HERE). I can't imagine what that's about ...
Simon Clark
Great event, fabulous location - a stunning 18th floor flat (bigger than many people's houses) with spectacular views of London and the Thames. The last time I experienced a view like this I was interviewing Jeffrey Archer in his famous riverside apartment overlooking the Houses of Parliament. (The subject of the interview was, would you believe, money.)
There must have been 100 or more guests. The speeches may have been a little self-congratulatory, but Matthew Elliott, co-founder and chief exec of the TPA, deserves enormous credit for developing an organisation that currently has 20,000 supporters, 2,500 donors and 1,500 activists. In terms of media hits, the TaxPayers' Alliance is second only to the Heritage Foundation among think tanks and pressure groups - not bad for such a young organisation.
Ironically, as Matthew himself admitted, the tax burden has actually gone up since 2004 so there is a long battle ahead. The good news is, the TPA is flourishing and is in good hands.
Reader Comments (4)
I'll just remind you of the Two Ronnies joke. Civil Servants have been banned from looking out of the windows in the morning.
So they have something to do in the afternoon.
Nice one, Dave. Thanks for your good wishes re UKIP.
I might be showing my ignorance here, but how come in the recession of the 80's there was no animosity against the wages of public v private workers.
My point being is that we didnt have a bursting foreign poupulation explosion back then and there wasnt a word about unsustainable pensions or that they couldnt be afforded to sustain.
Now that we are overpopulated with workers that we were told are necessary to maintain pensions, they are telling us the opposite.
"Ironically...the tax burden has actually gone up since 2004..." Am I the only one who thinks that the congrats should be a tad muted?