History

The TaxPayers' Alliance was launched in 2004 by Andrew Allum, Matthew Elliott and Florence Heath to represent taxpayers and to fight for lower taxes.  Most other western countries had had their own taxpayer groups for years, and in the United States in particular, for decades, so it was an anomaly that the UK, whose tax burden has risen almost uninterrupted for thirty years, did not have such a group. 

Starting out as a volunteer operation, the TPA became noticed by the national media in its first year with the publication of the first Bumper Book of Government Waste.  The reception from this report, alongside the strong support garnered from ordinary people who had seen their interests as taxpayers neglected for years, led to rapid and sustained expansion. 

Within our first year we had 5,000 registered supporters and were being mentioned in the press on a weekly basis.  That trend has continued and the TaxPayers’ Alliance now has upwards of 18,000 supporters (March 2008) and is mentioned in the media on average thirteen times a day, with several dozen broadcast hits every month. We are supported by some of Britain’s best-known businesspeople and academics.

The TPA now has a permanently manned London office with six full-time staff and a Campaign Team of energetic volunteers committed to achieving a low tax society. In its debut year, the TPA achieved some significant successes.

We:
•    Generated front page news coverage in the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Express and appeared in two ‘The Sun Says’ Leaders;
•    Forced HM Treasury to publicly respond to our Bumper Book of Government Waste and caused a diplomatic ‘frisson’ in the Foreign Office after exposing the cost of Athens 2004 to British taxpayers.
•    Brought together an alliance of opinion formers and local taxpayer groups to support our campaign for lower taxes.

In 2006, the TPA expanded to take on three new full-time members of staff and began organising for grassroots expansion.  One of the main highlights of that year was helping the Daily Express garner more than 200,000 names for a petition to abolish inheritance tax which was presented to Downing Street and the Treasury.  We also released details of a major opinion research programme which was a front-page splash in the Sunday Times and released the first Public Sector Rich List.

In April 2007, The TaxPayers’ Alliance moved to permanent offices in Westminster.  We occupy the top two floors of 43 Old Queen Street – a Grade II listed property in the heart of Westminster built in 1775.  History buffs among you won’t fail to acknowledge the symbolism of this date, when American colonists angered by unfair taxes imposed by the British Parliament started a revolution to force the politicians in London to abide by “No Taxation Without Representation!”.

Located next door to the Two Chairmen pub, our new office has for the first time given us the space to build a full-time campaign hub for the national low-tax cause.  In addition, in June 2007 the TaxPayers' Alliance opened our first dedicated regional office in Birmingham to cover the West Midlands, with a full-time campaign agent to coordinate the TPA campaign across the region.  This follows on from the launch of the North East TPA in September 2006 which is based in Durham.