Who is this taxing group allied to? (From York Press)
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Who is this taxing group allied to?
12:04pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in Letters By Reader's letter
ALERTED to the intention of the Taxpayers’ Alliance to hold a demonstration outside York’s Guildhall, last Friday, through their Facebook posting, I turned up to see what these self-appointed campaigners looked like. Imagine my disappointment when, despite a police presence, absolutely no one appeared.
Clearly this is proof positive that they are merely a front organisation, funded by extremists who represent no one.
Despite them receiving disproportionate publicity for their countless press releases, mainly in right-wing newspapers acting as house journals for the Tory party (and sometimes even in The Press), the Taxpayers’ Alliance should be given no credence.
If they wish to be taken seriously, they should come clean and tell us how many paid-up members they have, where their funding comes from and who they really represent. After all, I am a taxpayer and nobody has ever asked me to join.
Coun Sandy Fraser (Labour), Micklegate Ward, Millfield Road, York.
Comments(22)
Older Sometimes Wiser
says...
12:17pm Thu 24 Jan 13
YSTClinguist
says...
1:54pm Thu 24 Jan 13
The Great Buda wrote:But.....their website clearly states they are an Independent group. Surely with all the systems in place to prevent misadvertising and misrepresentation this group couldn't exist, could it?
The Tax Payers Alliance is a group of Conservatives who feel they have a right too not pay their fair share of Tax.
They specialise in highlighting wasted tax, fronted by none other than Liam "take my mates on holiday at the tax payers expense" Fox.
A sham of a group.
Ichabod76
says...
3:07pm Thu 24 Jan 13
CynicaloldGit
says...
3:24pm Thu 24 Jan 13
Ichabod76 wrote:That my dear Ichabod is because new labour are really red Tories not socialists.
Why after 13 years of Labour leadership was nothing done to close these tax loopholes ?
rothko
says...
3:44pm Thu 24 Jan 13
co.uk/politics/2009/
oct/09/taxpayers-all
iance-director-tax
yorkshirelad
says...
5:16pm Thu 24 Jan 13
But I agree, the name is a very deliberate con. What about all the tax payers that believe that,while none of us like to have our hard earned money taken away at source, tax is a decent thing.
It's tax that funds our schools hospitals, roads...it's tax that looks after us if we get very sick and when we get very old. It's tax that funds major infrastructure.
So I'm a tax payer and they most certainly don't represent me. They are in fact a group of shady right wingers....
Like 'The Tea Party' in the US, it all sounds very nice...but in fact it's all highly dodgy, extremist stuff.
Who funds them...what are the links to big corporate business, the Tory Party and the Tory press?
Maquis
says...
6:32pm Thu 24 Jan 13
They may be further to the right than myself, but they do serve to highlight some important issues which allow them to be debated, the same as the unions who are highlighting issues of the left. Listening to both arguments helps to make a balanced and correct decision.
They may have members of the conservative party among their numbers, but so what. It does not mean that the party itself is behind them. Ed Balls may be a member of his local golf club, but it does not mean that the club speaks for the Labour party.
This letter from Councilor Fraser simply shows that Labour (Who is is actively speaking on behalf of) cannot cope with any group or person who calls into question their tax and spend policies which have left the country in such a mess.
Richard Feynman
says...
11:14pm Thu 24 Jan 13
Absolutely no one? I thought you said the po-po were there?
Why are you lying to me?
Get your claws out of my wallet, comrade.
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
1:32am Fri 25 Jan 13
The TPA's mission is to:
Reverse the perception that big government is necessary and irreversible.
Explain the benefits of a low tax economy.
Give taxpayers a voice in the corridors of power.
We achieve this by releasing pioneering research into taxation and government spending. Our research team uses the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act to uncover information previously hidden from taxpayers. In the last year we’ve written 28 papers based on more than 4,100 FOI requests. We also publish books to build on our research, most recently Let Them Eat Carbon and How to Cut Public Spending (and Still Win an Election).
http://www.taxpayers
alliance.com/
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
1:34am Fri 25 Jan 13
Zetkin
says...
1:20pm Fri 25 Jan 13
Scarlet Pimpernel wrote:Probably not fear, but irritation that so much of the media hangs off every word the TPA utters, and breatlessly repeats it as if it were the word of God handed down from Sinai, instead of honestly reporting that it's the opinion of a tiny group of rich people trying to get richer by evading their responsibility to society.
What are Coun Fraser and his band of comrades afraid of ?
CynicaloldGit
says...
5:02pm Fri 25 Jan 13
The benefit claiment, pays back 20% of their benefits as soon as they buy goods and services, on electricity, gas, water, all the things we cannot live without, food being an exception, unless of course they have to eat fish n chips or McDonalds or Greggs pasties if their leckky or gas has ran out.
What the TPA really means is that they don't want to pay tax on what they earn, they want their cleaners to pay more tax than their companies and they certainly don't want to have their taxes given to the poor, unemployed and sick and disabled, when there used to be a perfectly good system years ago called the Parish workhouse.
What was it me old ma used to say.......greed begets greed and much wants more.
CynicaloldGit
says...
5:04pm Fri 25 Jan 13
ne guess why?
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
11:09pm Fri 25 Jan 13
Zetkin wrote:Did it ever strike you that government and councils might actually sometimes waste tax-payers money ?
Scarlet Pimpernel wrote:Probably not fear, but irritation that so much of the media hangs off every word the TPA utters, and breatlessly repeats it as if it were the word of God handed down from Sinai, instead of honestly reporting that it's the opinion of a tiny group of rich people trying to get richer by evading their responsibility to society.
What are Coun Fraser and his band of comrades afraid of ?
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
11:11pm Fri 25 Jan 13
CynicaloldGit wrote:I wonder how may of the TPA critics have bothered to read their blogs ?
Oh I love the term "tax Payer" when they really mean "income tax payer or corporation tax payer" because we all pay taxes.
The benefit claiment, pays back 20% of their benefits as soon as they buy goods and services, on electricity, gas, water, all the things we cannot live without, food being an exception, unless of course they have to eat fish n chips or McDonalds or Greggs pasties if their leckky or gas has ran out.
What the TPA really means is that they don't want to pay tax on what they earn, they want their cleaners to pay more tax than their companies and they certainly don't want to have their taxes given to the poor, unemployed and sick and disabled, when there used to be a perfectly good system years ago called the Parish workhouse.
What was it me old ma used to say.......greed begets greed and much wants more.
oi oi savaloy
says...
7:00am Sat 26 Jan 13
The Great Buda wrote:Er wrong on my account! I am an ex labour voter 25 years of voting labour and will not be voting for them at next election , undecided who to vote for yet, but it definitely won't be labour! Plus I pay paye, vat, n.i. And full council tax ... And sandy Fraser should have maybe looked into it a bit more anybody can sign up to join the alliance and it was also called off well in advance... An email went out... Don't know if it was mentioned on FB I didn't look... But also he can see what some members look like on the alliance website there is a gallery, or is sandy Fraser really that thick?
The Tax Payers Alliance is a group of Conservatives who feel they have a right too not pay their fair share of Tax. They specialise in highlighting wasted tax, fronted by none other than Liam "take my mates on holiday at the tax payers expense" Fox. A sham of a group.
perplexed
says...
8:30am Sat 26 Jan 13
In 2009 it was reported in December of the same year that the alliance requested certain of its donors — identified as "private businessman" located in the English Midlands - to channel funds through the trust for research into policies which might potentially damage their commercial interests.This move allegedly allowed the Alliance to receive tax relief on the donations; tax accountants have stated that the move potentially breached charity law, as UK commission guidelines state that organisations may not be charitable if they have political purposes.
A spokesman for the Charity Commission was quoted as saying that the "scope of the investigation is to address the allegations relating to the charity's relationship with the Taxpayers' Alliance"; such cases are opened when "available information indicates misconduct or is management has occurred" or otherwise when actions "may have been improper".
Sounds objective to me!
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
12:55pm Sat 26 Jan 13
oi oi savaloy wrote:Fraser is not thick, he's a devious mischief-making, ex-Union shop steward.
The Great Buda wrote: The Tax Payers Alliance is a group of Conservatives who feel they have a right too not pay their fair share of Tax. They specialise in highlighting wasted tax, fronted by none other than Liam "take my mates on holiday at the tax payers expense" Fox. A sham of a group.Er wrong on my account! I am an ex labour voter 25 years of voting labour and will not be voting for them at next election , undecided who to vote for yet, but it definitely won't be labour! Plus I pay paye, vat, n.i. And full council tax ... And sandy Fraser should have maybe looked into it a bit more anybody can sign up to join the alliance and it was also called off well in advance... An email went out... Don't know if it was mentioned on FB I didn't look... But also he can see what some members look like on the alliance website there is a gallery, or is sandy Fraser really that thick?
Highlighting wasted tax, as the TPA do, is a laudable endeavour. Wasting tax as Labour and the left do, is not !
CynicaloldGit
says...
3:39pm Sat 26 Jan 13
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Does that include wasting public money on Trident or supporting the Arab Spring, flogging off public part owned banks at knockdown prices etc etc etc
Scarlet Pimpernel
says...
4:40pm Sat 26 Jan 13
CynicaloldGit wrote:Labour were happy to retain and operate Trident at an annual cost of £3-4 billion during their tenure.
Highlighting wasted tax, as the TPA do, is a laudable endeavour. Wasting tax as Labour and the left do, is not !”
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Does that include wasting public money on Trident or supporting the Arab Spring, flogging off public part owned banks at knockdown prices etc etc etc
When were the banks flogged off ?
yorkshirelad
says...
9:51am Mon 28 Jan 13
They don't, of course. I'm not sure anyone really knows where their substantial funding comes from. But I think largely from wealthy donors and industrialists...tax
-payers maybe, but hardly representative.
They are widely seen as on the extreme right... perhaps they should be called 'The extreme right wing tax payers alliance'.
They don't represent the vast majority of decent tax paying people in the UK who will have a wide range of views on tax - not one extreme right-wing view.
The Great Buda says...
12:12pm Thu 24 Jan 13
They specialise in highlighting wasted tax, fronted by none other than Liam "take my mates on holiday at the tax payers expense" Fox.
A sham of a group.