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11 October 2008

Ross Clark takes a look at the TaxPayers’ Alliance

It is so one-sided that one almost yearns for some opposition on the subject. Apart from Dame Polly, is no one out there prepared to challenge the Taxpayers’ Alliance and defend public spending? Surely someone can make the point that Stoke-on-Trent’s organised walks are better value than heart operations for patients who are not even prepared to give up smoking, or that Gary Hoffman is worth every penny of his money at Northern Rock? And why does no one press the TaxPayers’ Alliance to tell us who funds it? It won’t let on, other than to say that no individual contributes more than 5 per cent of its budget.

The success of the Taxpayers’ Alliance is symptomatic, perhaps, of a shift in public opinion of which all parties would do well to take notice: that taxation has more or less reached saturation point. In contrast to the public mood from which Tony Blair benefited for two elections, no longer does it sound quite so virtuous to oppose tax cuts or seem so plausible to make out that cuts in public spending will necessarily mean sick children not getting NHS operations.

The achievement of the Taxpayers’ Alliance is to make one word synonymous with tax: waste.

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JohnAnt

October 10th, 2008 9:32pm Report this comment

There's an obvious reason for a walks organiser in Stoke-on-Trent. Who on earth would want to walk around Stoke-on-Trent without some encouragement?
Well then.

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