Sunday 29 November 2009

The Non-Taxpayers Alliance

Next Left can exclusively reveal that plans are shaping up for a forthcoming launch of a major new right-wing pressure group.

The Non-Taxpayers Alliance is to be headed by Tory ppc and non-dom Zac Goldsmith, with Michael Ashcroft as Treasurer.

Its launch slogan is expected to be "We're in this together - but the rest of you can pay our share".

Registered in the Cayman Islands, the group plans to operate from Westminster. Its campaign "Yes to Representation Without Taxation" hopes to add new perspective to the House of Commons as Goldsmith contests the Richmond Park constituency. The group will argue that more non-doms in government and politics would help to bring unique insights so that the needs of the globally mobile super-rich can be addressed in all areas of policy.

The Non Taxpayers Alliance group will be officially non-partisan, but sources say that everybody involved will be a committed right-wing Conservative anyway, and so the group will have a focus on Conservative policy where they believe they have excellent access to decision-makers.

The group is pleased that several of George Osborne's policies will offer very valuable help to the wealthiest - such as the inheritance tax reforms while the marriage tax break will also benefit the better-off most, but is concerned that those not paying taxes may miss out on this largesse. "Its quite tricky to work out how we can benefit from tax breaks without paying any taxes - but we feel confident George will be sympathetic in wanting to reward our dynamism and creativity".

A source with knowledge of the plans told Next Left that it would have a cooperative relationship with other right-wing pressure groups:


'We want to be clear that this initiative is in no way a criticism of the Taxpayers Alliance. They never criticise non-doms or tax avoidance, so we think that they are great.

But setting up a variety of right-wing groups with different names has worked really well so far and we think we can bring a distinctive candour and honesty while making the same old arguments.

So we are hoping that their director Alexander Heath, as a French resident and non-British taxpayer might agree to serve on both boards so that we can closely link our advocacy with theirs.

We will also be adopting TPA standards of non-transparency when it comes to our funding and operations: as you can imagine, Michael [Lord Ashcroft] will insist on nothing else".


The Other Taxpayers Alliance said they were not exactly surprised, and would press both the first and now the third TPA to take tax avoidance seriously if they wanted to credibly claim to be representing taxpayers' interests.

Speaking on conditions of strict anonymity, one very senior Tory office-holder was enthusiastic about the group's plans.


"I say three jolly cheers and more power to their elbows. The attacks on these chaps are an inverted pyramid of piffle. We can't expect squillionaires to play by the same rules as the rest of us in this globally dynamic age. My friends in the City have asked me to make that clear.

Instead of indulging in this boring old politics of envy, the left should be doing more for hard-pressed and hard-working hacks who are trying to hold down two jobs. Do you know I would be £25,000 a year better off from my Telegraph column if only Dave and George would scrap Labour's 50p tax rate on £150k+? I know its chicken feed to most people but if feels dastardly unfair to me"


Sources said that Shadow Chancellor George Osborne would probably feel he needed to give the group a bit of a kicking in public - "but I think they know that's just pre-election posturing between friends".

(Hat tip to a tweet from tomwilliamsisme of The Young Politico for the Non-TPA idea).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a wind-up, right?

Sunder Katwala said...

raincoatoptimism.

Indeed, it is a mild skit following the Sunday Times revelation of Mr Zac Goldsmith's non-dom status.

Wyrdtimes said...

I was expecting it to be a group for all those on benefits - a group that's grown massively under socialism.