Don’t be TWaTs: Councils urged to dodge four-day week plans at risk of being ‘part time town halls’ August 31, 2023 Councils have been urged to swerve introducing four-day work week schemes in a bid to dodge “part-time town halls”. Campaigners at the Taxpayers Alliance (TPA) have written to every council leader in the UK asking them to pledge not to bring in a four-day work week. Many City firms have been accused of a Tuesday, [...]
Labour more trusted than Tories on Brexit and the economy, new poll finds August 29, 2023 Voters place more trust in Labour than the Conservatives on issues including the economy, tax policies, Brexit and unemployment, new polling has revealed. Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party secured a higher trust rating than the Tories on nine out of ten issues that voters were polled on by YouGov for The Times. Prime Minister Rishi [...]
Calls to cut taxes show ‘questionable judgement’, economists warn August 23, 2023 Economists have warned that calls from Conservative MPs for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to cut taxes after improved borrowing data emerged show “questionable judgement”. Three backbench Conservatives piled the pressure on, according to the Financial Times, with calls for “personal tax reductions” to “stimulate the economy”. The pleas came after figures from the Office for National [...]
Taxpayers shell out record amount on government spending August 15, 2023 British taxpayers spent a record amount this year funding government spending, a top think tank has calculated. Workers have spent more than 60 per cent of 2023 with their incomes going towards paying off the government’s spending and borrowing, according to the Adam Smith Institute (ASI). Today, August 15, marks, what it has dubbed as [...]
British businesses locked in disputes with HMRC over possible unpaid tax July 31, 2023 More than half of British mid-sized firms are locked in disputes with the taxman over potential unpaid tax, a sign of the troubles companies encounter when trying to navigate the UK’s complex web of levies. Some 61 per cent of 500 firms surveyed by consultancy BDO are embroiled in a tax dispute with HMRC. Tax [...]
Poor tax scrutiny has enabled abuse and fraud, MPs warn July 26, 2023 Poor scrutiny of the “complex” tax system has led to relief abuse and even fraud, an influential finance committee of MPs have warned. The Treasury Committee is calling for a systematic review into the cost of over a thousand forms of tax relief which they say are “complex, un-costed and exploited” in a new report. [...]
Taxpayer to hand over £150bn to Bank of England to cover QE losses July 25, 2023 Taxpayers will have to foot a £150bn bill to cover cumulative losses on the Bank of England’s bond buying scheme over the coming decade, a new projection has claimed today. The Treasury is forecast to inject hundreds of billions of pounds into the central bank’s balance sheet to make up for a shortfall in its [...]
HMRC recovers a ‘remarkable’ £34bn from investigations into tax evasion and avoidance July 23, 2023 Investigations into tax evasion and avoidance have yielded £34bn in extra tax revenue over the past year, according to HMRC’s annual report. Although the total this year was higher than the £30.8bn gained last year, it was still lower than the £36bn targeted by HMRC. Tax evasion, which is illegal, is when someone conceals information [...]
Families unfairly penalised by UK tax system, CPS report warns July 10, 2023 The UK tax system must be reformed so that families are no longer unfairly penalised, a think tank has warned. Couples with two children and a single earner of £60,000 will pay over £7,000 more tax than if both parents earned £30,000 each, Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) researchers found. Research found single-earner married couples [...]
Hunt downplays tax cuts odds, conceding calming inflation is tougher than feared July 8, 2023 Tax cuts was growing less likely as Chancellor Jeremy Hunt signalled the pledge to halve inflation was proving harder than expected.